Mount Ephron, a mountain on the border between the territories of Judah and Benjamin, near Kiriath-jearim.
Also known as Mount Ephron · Ephron · west
Mount Ephron is mentioned in Joshua 15:9 and 18:15 as a landmark on the border between the territories allotted to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. It is described as being located near the city of Kiriath-jearim, also known as Baalah or Kiriath-baal.
The border description in Joshua 15:9 traces the boundary of Judah, stating that it went from the top of the mountain that faces the Valley of Hinnom to the northern slope of Mount Ephron. Similarly, Joshua 18:15 describes the southern border of Benjamin, which ran from Kiriath-jearim to Mount Ephron and then turned northward.
The exact location of Mount Ephron is uncertain, but based on the biblical description, it was likely situated in the hill country west of Jerusalem, near the modern-day city of Abu Ghosh or Qaryat el-Inab. The mountain's name, Ephron, may be derived from a Canaanite personal name or could be related to the Hebrew word "epher," meaning "gazelle."
The mention of Mount Ephron in the border descriptions helps to delineate the territories of Judah and Benjamin and provides insight into the geographical landscape of the region during the time of the Israelite conquest and settlement of Canaan.
Approximate location: 31.676, 35.042 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
The “cities of Mount Ephron” formed one of the landmarks on the northern boundary of the tribe of Judah. (Joshua 15:9)
E'PHRON, MOUNT (fawn-like), on the northern boundary of Judah, Josh 15:19; probably the range of hills west of Wady Beit-Hanina.
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.
2 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H6085
From the hilltop the border curved to the spring of the Waters of Nephtoah, proceeded to the cities of Mount Ephron, and then bent around toward Baalah (that is, Kiriath-jearim).
On the south side the border began at the outskirts of Kiriath-jearim and extended westward to the spring at the Waters of Nephtoah.
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.