Meaning & use
ephah
Last updated
UK/ˈiːfə/
US/ˈiːfə/
Meaning
nouncountablespecialistarchaic
An ancient Hebrew measure for dry goods such as grain, equal to roughly a bushel.
Grammar: Count noun, often seen with 'of' and a grain: an ephah of barley.
Patterns
- an ephah of something
The passage tells of an ephah of barley being given as payment.
Scholars debate how many liters an ephah actually held.
The scribe measured an ephah of flour for the offering.
Word forms
| plural | ephahs |
|---|
Common combinations
- an ephah of barley
- She gathered an ephah of barley from the field.
- an ephah of flour
- The offering required an ephah of flour.
- tenth of an ephah
- A tenth of an ephah was a typical portion.
- ephah and bath
- Dry and liquid measures were called ephah and bath.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- bath noun
- the ancient Hebrew liquid measure matching the ephah in size
- omer noun
- a smaller ancient Hebrew dry measure, a tenth of an ephah
Commonly confused: ephah or epha?
ephah vs epha
Epha is simply an older spelling variant of ephah, not a different word.
Practice
In ancient Hebrew texts, an ephah was used to measure ____.
Choose one answer.
The ephah was a dry measure, so it applied to grain. Wine is liquid, measured by a different unit called the bath.
Make it your own
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