Ephah (, ''‘Êp̄āh'',

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

Γαιφα, ''Gaipha'') was one of

Midian Midian (; he, מִדְיָן ''Mīḏyān'' ; ar, مَدْيَن, Madyan; grc-gre, Μαδιάμ, ''Madiam'') is a geographical place mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and Quran. William G. Dever states that biblical Midian was in the "northwest Ar ...

's five sons as listed in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Je ...

, was the father of Ephah,

Epher Epher*Ephera'im, Effrain* ( ''ʿĒp̄er'') was a grandson of Abraham, according to Gen. 25:4, whose descendants, Jewish historian Flavius Josephus claimed, had invaded Libya. Josephus also claimed that Epher's name was the etymological root of the ...

Enoch Enoch () ''Henṓkh''; ar, أَخْنُوخ ', Qur'ān.html"_;"title="ommonly_in_Qur'ān">ommonly_in_Qur'ānic_literature__'_is_a_biblical_figure_and_Patriarchs_(Bible).html" "title="Qur'ānic_literature.html" ;"title="Qur'ān.html" ;"title="o ...

, Abida, and Eldaah by his wife Keturah
Genesis 25:4

. These five were the progenitors of the Midianites.Charles B. Williams, "Ephah." ''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'' (1906). Ephah is mentioned again i
Isaiah 60:6
as a transporter of gold and frankincense from

Sheba Sheba (; he, ''Šəḇāʾ''; ar, سبأ ''Sabaʾ''; Ge'ez: ሳባ ''Saba'') is a kingdom mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the Quran. Sheba features in Jewish, Muslim, and Christian traditions, particularly the Ethiopian Orth ...

, who shall thus bring enlargement to Judah and praise to

Yahweh Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he poss ...

. Ephah is described as a land whence

dromedaries The dromedary (''Camelus dromedarius'' or ;), also known as the dromedary camel, Arabian camel, or one-humped camel, is a large even-toed ungulate, of the genus ''Camelus'', with one hump on its back. It is the tallest of the three species of ...

would come to Israel: "A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah." The tribe of Ephah is mentioned in inscriptions of the 8th-century BC

Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...

n kings

Tiglath-Pileser III Tiglath-Pileser III ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "my trust belongs to the son of Ešarra"), was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 745 BC to his death in 727. One of the most prominent and historically significant Assyrian kings, T ...

and Sargon II, making it the only tribe of the Midianites to be attested outside of the Bible.Wayne T. Pitard, "Midian", in

Bruce M. Metzger Bruce Manning Metzger (February 9, 1914 – February 13, 2007) was an American biblical scholar, Bible translator and textual critic who was a longtime professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and Bible editor who served on the board of the ...

and Michael D. Coogan (eds.), ''The Oxford Companion to the Bible'' (Oxford University Press, 1993). Tiglath-Pileser's inscription calls them ''Ḫa-a-a-ap-pa-a-a'', Sargon's ''Ḫa-ia-pa-a''. This is consistent with the original Hebrew implied by the Septuagint, , ''Ghaiphah''. Alongside the Adbeel,

Massa Massa may refer to: Places *Massa, Tuscany, the administrative seat of the Italian province of Massa-Carrara. *Massa (river), river in Switzerland * Massa (Tanzanian ward), administrative ward in the Mpwapwa district of the Dodoma Region of Ta ...

Tema Tema is a city on the Bight of Benin and Atlantic coast of Ghana. It is located east of the capital city; Accra, in the region of Greater Accra, and is the capital of the Tema Metropolitan District. As of 2013, Tema is the eleventh most populo ...

and Sheba, they submitted to Tiglath-Pileser and paid tribute after a military campaign in southern Palestine. In the ''

Annals of Sargon II The ''Annals of Sargon II'' are a series of cuneiform inscriptions detailing the military actions of the Assyrian ruler Sargon II between 720 BCE and 705 BCE. Discovery The Annals were unearthed in Khorsabad between 1842 and 1844 by archeologist ...

'', they are mentioned alongside the Thamūd, Marsimani and Ibadidi as those defeated by the Assyrians and exiled to

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...

in 716. Ephah is the only name common to both lists. Since the tribes mentioned by Sargon lay at a greater distance from Palestine than those in Tiglath-Pileser's inscription, it can be surmised that the Ephah were the closest to Palestine of these

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...

n tribes. Presumably, they lived along the

incense trade route The Incense Trade Route was an ancient network of major land and sea trading routes linking the Mediterranean world with eastern and southern sources of incense, spices and other luxury goods, stretching from Mediterranean ports across the Levan ...

, hence the reference to trade in Isaiah. Their land cannot be pinpointed but it may have been

Yathrib Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

(Medina) or Ḥismā.Israel Ephʻal, ''The Ancient Arabs: Nomads on the Borders of the Fertile Crescent, 9th–5th Centuries B.C.'' (Magnes Press, 1982), pp. 216–217.

Other uses

In the Bible, the name Ephah is also used of a concubine of Caleb
1 Chronicles 2:46
and a son of Jahdai, a descendant of Judah

.

References

{{Authority control Book of Genesis people Midian Ancient peoples of the Near East History of the Arabian Peninsula 8th-century BC in Assyria