Ephraim
son of Joseph
Ephraim (; Hebrew: אֶפְרַיִם, romanized: ʾEp̄rayīm, in pausa: אֶפְרָיִם ʾEp̄rāyīm) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the second son of Joseph ben Jacob and Asenath, as well as the adopted son of his biological grandfather Jacob, making him the progenitor of the Tribe of Ephraim.
Asenath was an Egyptian woman whom Pharaoh gave to Joseph as wife, and daughter of Potipherah, priest of ʾOn (Heliopolis) (אָֽסְנַ֔ת בַּת־פּ֥וֹטִי פֶ֖רַע כֹּהֵ֥ן אֽוֹן). Ephraim was born in Egypt before the arrival of the Israelites from Canaan.
The Book of Numbers lists three sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, Beker, and Tahan. However, 1 Chronicles 7 lists eight sons, including Ezer and Elead, who were killed in an attempt to steal cattle from the locals. After their deaths he had another son, Beriah. He was the ancestor of Joshua, son of Nun ben Elishama, the leader of the Israelite tribes in the conquest of Canaan.
According to the biblical narrative, Jeroboam, who became the first king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, was also from the house of Ephraim.
Biblical criticism
The Book of Genesis related the name "Ephraim" to the Hebrew root פָּרָה pārā "to be fruitful". This referring to Joseph's ability to produce children, specifically while in Egypt (termed by the Torah as "the land of his affliction").
“Ephraim” enters the record as son of Joseph. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ephraim and Joseph can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q203251. VIAF identifies the subject as 10658302. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ephraim” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.