Gibeah (גִּבְעָה) means "hill" and designates multiple locations in Israel, most prominently the Benjaminite city of Gibeah — birthplace of Saul and site of the horrific crime recounted in Judges 19-20. The name shares its root with gib'ah (hill), pointing to elevated topography.
Gibeah of Benjamin became a byword for moral catastrophe. The gang rape and murder of the Levite's concubine (Judges 19) prompted Israel's civil war, nearly exterminating Benjamin. The prophet Hosea later invokes "the days of Gibeah" (Hosea 9:9; 10:9) as shorthand for Israel's deepest apostasy. Yet from this same city came Saul — Israel's first king — whose story illustrates how God works through broken places and flawed people. Gibeah's dual legacy (atrocity and kingship) mirrors the complexity of Israel's history.
Hebrew gib'ah (H1389) simply means "hill" — Gibeah is the populated hill, the settlement on the rise. High places in Israel's landscape had spiritual weight: YHWH spoke from mountains, but illicit worship also happened at the "high places" (bamot, H1116). Gibeah's hill became a hill of shame. The NT contrast is Calvary — another hill where horror became salvation.