CHEPHIRAH

(Che·phiʹrah) [village].

A Hivite city (Josh. 9:7, 17), and one of the four cities represented by the Gibeonite ambassadors that falsely claimed to be from a distant land and by means of this trick were able to conclude a covenant with the Israelites under Joshua. (Josh. 9:3-27) Chephirah is easily identifiable today with the impressive uninhabited remains at Khirbet Kefireh, five miles (8 kilometers) W-SW of el-Jib (Biblical Gibeon) at the summit of what was once a series of armed terraces. This strategic position of Chephirah served to guard against the approach of enemy forces to Gibeon from the W. At the time of the land distribution Chephirah came within Benjamin’s inheritance (Josh. 18:26) and after the exile was among those cities resettled.—Ezra 2:1, 25; Neh. 7:29.