Ephrath or Ephratah is the Biblical name of the ancient city in the Judean Hills, south of Bethlehem, now called Efrat in the West Bank. It is the urban center of Gush Etzion. Its chief rabbi is Shlomo Riskin, a well-known American rabbi formerly of the Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York City. It is an ancient place: on the road between Ephrath and Bethel, Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin (Genesis, xxxv:19). Parts of this article contradict each other. ... Desert hills in southern Judea, looking east from the town of Arad Judea or Judaea (יהודה Praise, Standard Hebrew Yəhuda, Tiberian Hebrew Yəhûḏāh) is a term used for the mountainous southern part of historic Palestine, an area now divided between Israel, Jordan and the West Bank. ... Bethlehem (Arabic بيت لحم Bayt Laḥm house of meat; בית לחם house of bread, Standard Hebrew Bet léḥem / Bet láḥem, Tiberian Hebrew Bêṯ léḥem / Bêṯ lāḥem) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank of Palestine. ... Gush Etzion is a group of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. ... Shlomo Riskin was an influential Rabbi and founder of the Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York City. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the United States, and is at the center of international finance, politics, entertainment, and culture. ... Bethel (Hebrew for House of El) // Bible Bethel (Israel) is a city in ancient Israel, about 10 miles north of Jerusalem. ... In the Book of Genesis, Rachel (רָחֵל Ewe, also innocense and gentility of a lamb and may mean Lamb of God. Standard Hebrew Raḥel, Tiberian Hebrew Rāḫēl, Rāḥēl) is the second and favorite wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin. ... In the Old Testament, Benjamin (בִּנְיָמִין Son of my right hand but in some Rabbinical traditions Son of the south, Standard Hebrew Binyamin, Tiberian Hebrew Binyāmîn) is the younger son of Jacob and Rachel (Gen. ...

Today the population numbers above 10,000, with many families originally from the United States and elsewhere in the Anglo world. For more information on modern Efrat see The Municipal Council and B'Emunah.

A short distance from Ephrath is the small town of Bethlehem, which has assumed greater importance as the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth. Bethlehem (Arabic بيت لحم Bayt Laḥm house of meat; בית לחם house of bread, Standard Hebrew Bet léḥem / Bet láḥem, Tiberian Hebrew Bêṯ léḥem / Bêṯ lāḥem) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank of Palestine. ... This article is about the figure known by both Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus Christ. For other usages, see Jesus (disambiguation). ...

The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem has always been accounted by Christians a fulfillment of the prophecy in Micah (5:2): // Who wrote it? Micah wrote the book in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, roughly 735-700 BC Few Old Testament scholars today would defend Micahs authorship of the entire book. ...

"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." (King James Version).

As Beth-lehem-Judah (1 Samuel 17:12) is in the territory of Judah, so Beth-lehem Ephratah is in the territory of Ephrath. Ephrath is sometimes confused with Bethlehem itself: even the Jewish Encyclopedia (1908) lists Ephrath as "another name for Bethlehem (Genesis xxxv. 19, xlviii. 7; Ruth i. 2, iv. 11; Psalms cxxxii. 6; Micah v. 1)." The interested reader will want to pursue the citations, however. Assuredly the purely traditional "tomb of Rachel" as now venerated is in a suburb of Bethlehem. This page is about the version of the Bible; for the Harvey Danger album, see King James Version (album). ...

Ephrath was already a settlement in the Bronze Age. Archeology by Rivka Gonen, summarized in 1979, revealed a cemetery consisting of a tumulus built over a platform structure and some 27 Bronze Age burial caves of the shaft-tomb type, many of which had been reused over long stetches of time. These tombs were reused in the Middle Bronze Age.

• Ephrath was the wife of Caleb (son of Hezron) and mother of Hur (I Chronicles ii. 19 and 50; iv. 4).

Caleb, the son of Jephunneh is an important figure in the Hebrew Bible, noted for his faith in God when the Hebrew nation refuses to enter the promised land of Canaan. ... The Book of Chronicles is a book in the Hebrew Bible (also see Old Testament). ...

Reference

Rivka Gonen, Excavations at Efrata: A Burial Ground from the Intermediate and Middle Bronze AgesIsrael Antiquities Authority Reports, 2001

The town of Ephrata, Pennsylvania was named after this town.
The town of Ephratah, New York was also named after this town.
The town of Ephrata, Washington was also named after this town.
Ephrata is a borough located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. ... Ephratah is a town located in Fulton County, New York. ... Ephrata is a city located in Grant County, Washington. ...