He named his second son Ephraim because, he said, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my troubles."

Joseph's sons born in the land of Egypt were Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On, bore for him.

Some time later, somebody informed Joseph, "Your father is ill!" So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him to visit Jacob.

You have two sons who were born to you in Egypt before I came to be with you, whom I now take as my own. Ephraim and Manasseh are mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are.

Then he brought them both close to his father, placing Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right.

But Israel stretched out his right hand, laying it on Ephraim's head (he was the younger son) and laying his left hand on Manasseh's head (even though Manasseh was the firstborn).

But Joseph observed that his father had laid his right hand on Ephraim's head. That displeased him, so he grabbed his father's hand and started to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.

That very day, Jacob blessed them with this blessing: "By you Israel will extend this blessing: "May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!'"

By doing this, he placed Ephraim before Manasseh. Then Israel told Joseph, "Pay attention! I'm about to die, but God will be with you. He'll bring you back to the land that belongs to your ancestors.

Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim's children, as well as the children who had been born to Manasseh's son Machir, whom he adopted as his own.

"From Joseph's descendants through Ephraim: Ammihud's son Elishama. From Manasseh: Pedahzur's son Gamaliel.

"Toward the west is to be the division of the camp of Ephraim under their standard. The leader of Ephraim is to be Ammihud's son Elishama.

All those numbered by division in the camp Ephraim total 108,100. They are to be the third to travel."

On the seventh day, Ammihud's son Elishama, leader of the descendants of Ephraim, presented

After this, the standard of the camp of Ephraim set out, accompanied by its army with Ammihud's son Elishama in charge.

From Ephraim's tribe, Nun's son Hoshea;

The tribe of Joseph, listed according to their families, included Manasseh and Ephraim.

The descendants of Ephraim, listed according to their families, included: From Shuthelah, the family of the descendants of Shuthelah; from Becher, the family of the descendants of Becher; and from Tahan, the family of the descendants of Tahan.

These families of Ephraim numbered 32,500. These were the descendants of Joseph, listed according to their families.

Shiphtan's son Kemuel to be leader of the half tribe of Ephraim,

Then you are to affirm and declare in the presence of the LORD your God:

May the firstborn of his bull be honorable to him, and may his horns be those of a wild ox. With them may he push people all together, to the ends of the earth. These are the myriads of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh."

all of Naphtali, the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh, and the entire territory of Judah all the way to out over the sea,

since the descendants of Joseph constituted two tribes Manasseh and Ephraim. They did not allot a portion to the descendants of Levi in the land, since they were given cities to live in, along with pastures for their livestock and property.

Manasseh and Ephraim, the descendants of Joseph, received their inheritance.

This was the territory allocated to the descendants of Ephraim according to their families: the border of their inheritance on the east was Ataroth-addar as far as upper Beth-horon.

From Tappuach, the border proceeded west to the Kanah brook, ending at the Mediterranean Sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Ephraim according to their families,

along with the cities that had been set aside for the descendants of Ephraim within the allotment of the descendants of Manasseh, including all of the cities and villages.

However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites live within the territory of Ephraim to this day, but they serve as forced laborers.

(The territory of Tappuach belonged to Manasseh, but Tappuach itself, on the border of Manasseh, was allocated to the descendants of Ephraim.)

The border proceeded to the Kanah brook and proceeded south. These cities belonged to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh, with the border of Manasseh on the north of the brook, terminating at the Mediterranean Sea.

The southern area was allocated to Ephraim and the northern area to Manasseh. The Mediterranean Sea was the border, extending to Asher on the North and to Issachar on the east.

So Joshua replied to them, "Since you're so numerous, go up to the forest and clear ground there for yourselves in the territory where the Perizzites and Rephaim are, because the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you."

So Joshua told the tribes of Joseph, which were Ephraim and Manasseh, "You're truly a numerous group, and you have great power. You are not to have only one allotment,

By a command from the LORD, they allocated the town that he requested, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. He rebuilt the town and settled there.

So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (also known as Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

The rest of the descendants of Kohath received ten cities by random lot from the families of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

Cities from the tribe of Ephraim were also allotted to the families of the descendants of Kohath, that is, to the rest of the descendants of Kohath, who were descendants of Levi.

Shechem was allocated to them as a city of refuge for unintentional killers, along with its pasture lands, in the mountainous region of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasture lands,

they buried him in his territorial inheritance at Timnath-serah in the mountainous region of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

Later, Aaron's son Eleazar also died, and they buried him at Gibeah, which belonged to his son Phinehas, and which had been given to him in the mountainous region of Ephraim.

The army of the tribe of Ephraim did not expel the Canaanites who were living in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

They buried him in Timnath-heres, within the boundaries of his inheritance in the mountainous region of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

When he arrived there, he sounded a trumpet in the mountainous region of Ephraim. While the Israeli army accompanied Ehud from the mountainous regions,

She regularly took her seat under the Palm Tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountainous region of Ephraim, where the Israelis would approach her for decisions.

Some came from Ephraim who had been harassed by Amalek, followed by Benjamin with your people. Some commanders came from Machir, along with some from Zebulun who carry a badge of office.

Gideon dispatched messengers throughout the mountainous region of Ephraim, notifying them, "Come down to fight Midian. Capture the water crossings as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan River before they can get to them."

Later on, the descendants of Ephraim spoke to Gideon. They argued vehemently, "What are you doing to us? You never called us! But you went out to fight Midian!"

"What have I accomplished compared to you?" he responded. "Isn't what's left from Ephraim's harvest better than the best vintage of Abiezer?

A man from the tribe of Issachar, Puah's son Tola, grandson of Dodo, arose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the mountainous region of Ephraim.

The Ammonites crossed the Jordan River to fight against the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim. As a result, Israel was deeply distressed.

A little while later, the army of Ephraim was mustered, and they crossed to Zaphon. They confronted Jephthah and asked, "Why did you cross over to fight the Ammonites without calling us to accompany you? We're going to burn your house down around you!"

Then Jephthah mustered all the men of Gilead, fought the tribe of Ephraim, and defeated them, because they had been claiming, "You descendants of Gilead are fugitives in the midst of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh."

The descendants of Gilead seized control of the Jordan River's fords along the border of Ephraim's territory. Later on, when any fugitive from Ephraim asked them, "Let me cross over," the men from Gilead would ask him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he said "No,"

they would order him, "Pronounce the word "Shibboleth' right now." If he said "Sibboleth," not being able to pronounce it correctly, they would seize him and slaughter him there at the fords of the Jordan River. During those days 42,000 descendants of Ephraim died that way.

Then he died and was buried at Pirathon in the territory of Ephraim, in the mountainous region of the Amalekites.

A man named Micah lived in the mountainous region of the territory of Ephraim.

The man had left his city Bethlehem in Judah to live wherever he could. As he traveled along, he eventually arrived at Micah's house in the mountainous region of Ephraim, looking for work.

So the tribe of Dan sent from their families five valiant men of their number from Zorah and Eshtaol to scout the land and search through it. Following their orders, which were "Go and scout the land," they came to the mountainous region of Ephraim, arrived at Micah's home, and stayed there.

They proceeded from there to the mountainous region of Ephraim and arrived at Micah's house.

Now it happened in those days, before there was a king in Israel, that a certain male descendant of Levi, who lived in a remote part of the mountainous region of Ephraim, took a mistress for himself from Bethlehem in the territory of Judah.

After they entered the city, they had to sit down in the public square because no one would take them into their home for the night. Just then, an old man was coming out of the fields that evening from work. The man was from the mountainous region of Ephraim and had been staying in Gibeah, even though the men of that place were descendants of Benjamin.

He replied, "We're traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote part of the mountainous region of Ephraim, because I'm from there, and I've been visiting Bethlehem in Judah. I'm going home now, but no one will take me into his home.

A certain man lived in Ramathaim-zophim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim. He was Jeroham's son Elkanah, the grandson of Elihu and grandson of Tohu, who was the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

He went through the hill country of Ephraim and through the region of Shalishah, but they did not find them. Then they went through the region of Shaalim, but they were not there. They also went through the territory of the descendants of Benjamin, but they did not find them.

All the Israelis who had been hiding in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were fleeing, and even they pursued the Philistines in the battle.

He installed him as king over Gilead, the Ashurites, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, and all of the rest of Israel.

Two full years later, Absalom took some men to Baal-hazor near Ephraim to shear his sheep. He also invited all of the king's sons to come.

David's army left for the battlefield to fight Absalom and his Israeli followers, and they also fought in the Ephraim forest,

That's a lie! But there is a man from the Ephraim hill country he's known as Bichri's son Sheba who has rebelled against King David. Turn him over and I'll withdraw from the city!"

Here's a list of their names: Ben-hur from the hill country of Ephraim;

Later on, Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. He also expanded from there and built Penuel.

Gehazi said, "Everything's all right. My master sent me to tell you, "Just now two men from the Guild of Prophets have arrived from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them each a talent of silver bullion and two sets of clothes.'"

Then King Jehoash of Israel captured Judah's King Amaziah, the son of Jehoash and grandson of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh. He went to Jerusalem and demolished 400 cubits of the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate.

A few of the families of Kohath's descendants had towns of their territory allotted from the tribe of Ephraim.

They were given these cities of refuge: Shechem with its surrounding suburbs in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its surrounding suburbs,

Ephraim's descendants included Shuthelah, his son Bered, his son Tahath, his son Eleadah, his son Tahath,

So their father Ephraim mourned many days, and his relatives came to comfort him.

Later, Ephraim had marital relations with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to a son, whom he named Beriah, because his household had been visited with disaster.

In Jerusalem there lived some of the people of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh including

The tribe of Ephraim supplied 20,800 valiant soldiers who were well known in their ancestral households.

for the descendants of Ephraim, there was Azaziah's son Hoshea; for the half-tribe of Manasseh, there was Pedaiah's son Joel;

Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and announced:

Encouraged by what Oded's son Azariah the prophet had said in his prophecy, Asa removed the detestable idols from throughout the entire territories of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities that he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He repaired the LORD's altar that stood in front of the vestibule of the LORD's Temple.

Then he gathered together all of Judah, Benjamin, and people from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were living among them, since many people had defected to him from Israel when they learned that the LORD his God was with him.

Jehoshaphat continued to live in Jerusalem, but he travelled again throughout the people from Beer-sheba to Mount Ephraim, bringing them back to the LORD God of their ancestors

A man came from God and warned him, "Your majesty, don't let the army of Israel accompany you into battle, because the LORD isn't with any of the descendants of Ephraim.

The man of God answered, "The LORD has a lot more than that to give you!" So Amaziah sent the troops home who had arrived from Ephraim. They flew into a rage against Judah but left for home very angry.

King Joash of Israel captured Joash's son King Amaziah of Judah, the grandson of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh and brought him back to Jerusalem, where he broke down 400 cubits of the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate.

Zichri, a valiant soldier from Ephraim, killed the king's son Maaseiah, Azrikam, the palace manager, and Elkanah, who was second in rank to the king.

Some of the leaders of the descendants of Ephraim, including Johanan's son Azariah, Meshillemoth's son Berechiah, Shallum's son Jehizkiah, and Hadlai's son Amasa, stood up to the army as they were coming back from the battle

Hezekiah also sent word to all of Israel and Judah, and wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh that they should come to the LORD's Temple in Jerusalem to observe the Passover to the LORD God of Israel.

Couriers crossed from city to city throughout the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun, but those people just mocked them and laughed at them.

Even though a large crowd of people from as far away as Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not completed consecrating themselves, they still ate the Passover in a manner not proscribed by the Law, because Hezekiah had prayed like this for them: "May the good LORD extend a pardon on behalf of

At the conclusion of all of these activities, everybody in Israel who was in attendance traveled throughout the cities of Judah, broke down the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherim, and broke down the high places and altars throughout the territories of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh until they had eliminated all of them. Then the people of Israel went back to their cities and back to their work.

In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali and their surrounding ruins,

They approached Hilkiah the high priest and delivered to him the money that had been brought into God's Temple that the descendants of Levi and gatekeepers had collected from Manasseh, Ephraim, the surviving Israelis, Judah, Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Then the people went out and found branches to make tents for themselves on the roofs of their houses, in their courtyards, and in the courts of God's Temple, in the plaza near the Water Gate, and in the plaza near the Gate of Ephraim.

and from above the Ephraim Gate, above the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate. They stopped at the Guard Gate.

Gilead belongs to me, and Manasseh is mine. Ephraim is my helmet, and Judah my scepter.