NEPHTOAH

(Neph·toʹah) [an opening].

The name associated with a spring on the boundary between Judah and Benjamin. (Josh. 15:1, 9; 18:11, 15) This spring is usually identified with the one at Lifta, to the E of Kiriath-jearim and about two miles (3 kilometers) NW of Jerusalem. Although this identification would agree with Joshua 15:9, Joshua 18:15, 16 appears to place “the spring of the waters of Nephtoah” W of Kiriath-jearim. Bible translators have variously handled this seeming discrepancy. Following the reading of the Septuagint Version, The Jerusalem Bible replaces “westward” with “towards Gasin.” In the Revised Standard Version the text has been changed in harmony with Joshua 15:9 and reads “to Ephron” instead of “westward.” Ronald A. Knox translates the Hebrew word yamʹmah (westward) according to its literal meaning as “seaward” and, in a footnote, explains: “This ought to mean westwards, towards the Mediterranean, but it seems quite clear that at this point the boundary of Benjamin turned eastward; and the sea is presumably the Dead Sea, its eastward limit.”