Man living at the time of Divided Monarchy
Ephai the Netophathite was the father of one of the men who came to Gedaliah at Mizpah.
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Also known as Ophai
Ephai the Netophathite is mentioned briefly in the book of Jeremiah as the father of one of the men who came to Gedaliah at Mizpah (Jer.40.8). After the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians, Gedaliah was appointed as the governor over the remnant of Judah. A group of men, including the son of Ephai, came to Gedaliah and pledged their allegiance to him. The Netophathites were inhabitants of Netophah, a village near Bethlehem in Judah. The mention of Ephai's origin suggests that he and his family were from this village. No further information is provided about Ephai himself or his son, who is not named in the text. The inclusion of Ephai's name serves to identify the background of one of the men who supported Gedaliah and to highlight the diverse group of people who gathered around the appointed governor in the aftermath of Jerusalem's destruction. The mention of Ephai and his son's allegiance to Gedaliah also underscores the importance of the governor's role in providing leadership and stability for the remnant of Judah during this turbulent period.
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(gloomy), a Netophathite, whose sons were among the “captains of the forces” left in Judah after the deportation to Babylon. (Jeremiah 40:8; 41:3) comp. Jere 40:13 (B.C. 588.)
E'PHAI (weary), a Netophathite whose sons repaired unto Gedaliah. Jer 40:8.
E'PHAI (weary), a Netophathite whose sons repaired unto Gedaliah. Jer 40:8.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
1 verse in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H5778
they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah son of the Maacathite—they and their men.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.