Rabbah

Rabbah (meaning great or populous) was the capital city of the Ammonites, located in the Transjordan highlands approximately 25 miles east of the Jordan River at the site of modern Amman, Jordan. In the Old Testament it is called Rabbah of the Ammonites or Rabbath-ammon (Deuteronomy 3:11; 2 Samuel 12:27). The iron bedstead of the giant Og king of Bashan was displayed there (Deuteronomy 3:11). The city withstood David's siege under Joab while David remained in Jerusalem — a context immortalized by the Bathsheba incident and Uriah's death — before Joab summoned David to lead the final assault (2 Samuel 12:26–29).

The prophets later directed oracles against Rabbah: Jeremiah 49:2–3, Ezekiel 21:20; 25:5, and Amos 1:14 all announce judgment on Ammon's proud capital. In the Hellenistic period the city was renamed Philadelphia by Ptolemy II Philadelphus and later became part of the Decapolis.