F. B. Denio.
EPHPHATHA.— An Aramaic word, found in the Greek text of Mk 7**. AVe there read that Jesus said to a man who was ' deaf and had an impedi- ment in his speech, Ephphatha ' {eifxfiaBd). The Evangelist appends a Greek translation of the word : S ianv Sias'oix^l''') ' that is, Be opened.'
There are two Aram, words of which iftate may be a trans- literation : (1) nnsN ; (2) nnSN. The fonnei nriSnN Imperative Ithpaal ; and the latter nnsnx Imperative Ithpeal of the verb nns 'to open.' In Greek IMSS, N^I) present iwiW, which is certainly Ithpeal, whereas i^ifocHu may be Ithp.aal. Jerome gives Kpkphetha, and some Latin JISS give effetha, eptutha, and even effcta, Wellhausen in his Com. on Mk 7^ prints i^^ara, but apparently without MS authority.
The form t^^afla, when compared with its Aram, equivalent nnsnn, presents several interesting ppriiliarities braring on the dialect spoken by our Lord. (1) W. i, .1, n,. r ii.iaranceof the guttural n. We know that in < i! i. i miaria the
gutturals were much neglected, or I' r , and they
are often ignored in transliterating . ;ilo Greek.
Thus we find Mio-o-ia; from Nn'^': , i; . - :.- n m x-pri r'3; yiinx from D3n '3 ; Tiinuv from JiVpif' (side bj- side with Jt/^<i«, where the i does duty for y). (2) We note the assimilation of
tliat II. Ti. . 1' I ,-,,,,, ,11. .. ill] the labials 2, D, and S, then in
tii<|.i ■! ■ -. i'l to the first radical (Dalman's
Aioii. i < 1' I (;i) It is noteworthy that we
ha\r i1h rri«iii 1 ii„ ;,.i.ir.xte letter*. According to
Hebrew analogy, nnSN ought to give fTT«(*a, inasmuch as the dapliesh always indicates the harder and not the aspirated form of the letter 5. We infer, therefore, that in the Semitic language, which lies behind our Greek Test., there was a devia- tion from Hebrew rule as to the daghesh. If Heb. had been the basal language of the Gospels, we could not hav forms as B«»«oA«,ua',« from '3^11? 13 and VrOfnyii from IT3 •;kj. The aspirated forms n and B after a closed syllable would be intolerable. The daghesh /ortc is also singularly treated in Jl«Te«r« from K;ri? and Zx^x'^^ from 'Ji. (4) The
of t in l^ipaScc may possibly indicate that the dialect spoken by our Lord used the Sj/riac prefix nK eth with passive forms, and not nx ith, as is found in Palestinian Aramaic ; in other words, used Ethpaal for Ithpaal.
As to what is the subject of the verb Siai/olx6riTi, 'Be tho%i opened,' there is room for diH'erence of opinion. It may be the mouth, as in Lk 1" (so Weiss, Morison), or the ear, as in Targ. on Is 50* (so Bruce, Swete) ; or it may be the deaf man himself who is addressed. One door of knowledge being shut, the man is conceived of as a bolted chamber : ' Jesus said to him. Be thou opened. '
Literature.— Zahn, Einleitung in das XT i. 1-24 ; Kautzsch, Gramm. des Biblisch-Aramdisch, § 5 ; Dalman, Aram. Gramm. 201 f., 222; A. Meyer, Jem Muttersprache, 52; Meyer, Bruce, Swete, etc., on Mk 7H J. T. MARSHALL.
EPHRAIM.— Jn IP^ only. After the raising of Lazarus, Jesus departed, in consequence of the plots of the chief priests against Him, 'unto a country (RV 'into the country') near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.'
There are scarcely anv textual variations. TR spells 'E^/)oti'a ; Lachinann,Tischendorf; Westcott-IIort spell ■Ef^/l»t//t;Stephanu8, 1560, had on the margin the reading 'Efpi/j., which is supported by NL and Latin witnesses, and the name lit-itipovfui^ as to be supplied after x*/""- This is the reading of D, Sapfurim in its Latin part, for which Chase {Sijro-Lat. Text of Gospels, 108) and R. Harris (A Sttidi/ of Codex Bezm, p. 184) suggested that <ra/i might be the Heb. 02* ' the name ' ; but more probable is the identification with Sepphorls, which in Jog. Ant. xiv. 91 is spelt ^Tfipaif (v.ll. 'Sawtufoi! and other forms) ; so Jerome (s.l). 'Araba' in OS 17. 13 f.): ' Diocaisarea, qua) olim Sagorine dicebatur.'
Eusebius in his Onomasticon says [ad Ephron, Jos. XV. 9) : (i-ai Ian viiv KiifiT} 'E(j>palfJ. fieylaT-ri Tepl to, fidpua AiXias us d7r6 arniduv k ; in the Latin render- ing of Jerome: 'e.st et villa pergrandis Efrma nomine contra septentrionem in vicesimo ab yElia mUiario' (ed. Klostermann, p. 86. 1, 90. 18). With this has been identified vl/cre [ = m,?j; Jos. xviii. 23] : ' in tribu Beniamin ; et est hodie vicus Efraim. in quinto miliario Bethelis ad orientem respiciens' (p. 29. 4 ; the Greek text [28. 4 : xai vvv Ian Kibfir, Al4>pr]K oTri] is here defective); further, 1 Mac 11** =Jos. Ant. xiii. 127 [ed. Niese] : toi>s rpeTs vonoin 'A<paipe/ia. (v.l. 'A(pipefia) Kal \vSSa Kai 'Pafiadeiv ; finally, the notice of Josephus (BJ iv. 551), that Vespasian took Tirie-iiya re (earlier reading BaiffiiX or B)/5>)X) Kai 'E<ppalfi iroX/x^a. Since Robinson, the site has been souglit at the modern ct-faiyibeh, 4 miles N.E. from Bethel. Schiirer (GJK» i. 233) quotes Robinson, ii. 332-338; Guerin, Judie, iii. 45-51 ; Buhl, GAP p. 177 ; Heidet, art. 'Ephrem' in Vigouroux's Dirt. ii. 188511'. ; cf., further, art. 'Ephraim' by J. H. Kennedy in Hastings' DB, and by T. K. Cheyne in Encyc. Biblica.*