EPHRON

(Eʹphron) [fawn, fawnlike, strong].

1. A Hittite son of Zohar who owned a field in Machpelah in front of Mamre, that is, in Hebron. In 1881 B.C.E. Abraham purchased this field from Ephron, together with the cave located on it, as a burial place for his wife Sarah. (Gen. 23:3-20) Abraham paid 400 silver shekels ($190) for this family burial plot, yet generations thereafter it was still referred to as “the field of Ephron.”—Gen. 25:9; 49:29, 30; 50:13.

2. A mountain ridge situated between Nephtoah and Kiriath-jearim. (Josh. 15:9) It lay on the northern boundary of the tribe of Judah. Its suggested location is about six miles (9.7 kilometers) NW of Jerusalem.

3. “Ephron” appears at 2 Chronicles 13:19 in the Masoretic text as well as in the Septuagint and some other versions; however, the marginal reading of the Masoretic text gives “Ephrain.”—See EPHRAIN.