What does epha mean?
The epha (more often spelled ephah) was a standard unit of dry measure in ancient Israel, used chiefly for grain such as wheat and barley. It corresponded to about a tenth of a homer and is generally reckoned at around twenty-two litres, roughly comparable to an English bushel. The term appears throughout the Hebrew Bible, most memorably in the Book of Ruth, where Ruth's gleaning yields an ephah of barley in a single day. Prophets also invoked the epha in matters of commerce and justice — Ezekiel insists on "a just ephah and a just bath," pairing the dry measure with its liquid counterpart — making it a symbol of honest dealing. Beyond denoting the quantity itself, epha could refer to the actual measuring vessel. Today the word survives almost solely in biblical translations, commentaries, and archaeological writing, giving it a distinctly archaic, scholarly flavour.
An ancient Hebrew unit of dry measure for grain, approximately 22 litres or one bushel.
"The priest measured out a tenth of an epha of flour for the offering."
Almost always found in biblical contexts; the spelling ephah is more common in modern translations.
The vessel or container used to hold an epha measure.
"The merchant kept his epha honest, filling it level every time."
This sense occurs mainly in prophetic passages condemning false measures.
Both plurals appear in biblical and scholarly writing; "ephahs" is somewhat more frequent in modern usage.
"The harvest filled several ephas before noon."
When Ruth gleaned in Boaz's field, her day's haul was an ephah of barley — about 22 litres, enough to feed two women comfortably.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of epha
Epha derives from the Hebrew ʾēp̄ā (אֵיפָה), an ancient Semitic term for a specific dry capacity that entered English through early modern Bible translation, notably the Tyndale and King James traditions. Its precise deeper origin is uncertain, though it belongs to the vocabulary of weights and measures shared across the ancient Near East. The spelling ephah reflects a fuller transliteration of the Hebrew, while epha preserves the Latinized form.
Related word forms
How epha is actually used
The word is now almost exclusively encountered in biblical translation and scholarly discussion of ancient Near Eastern metrology. It belongs to a formal, archaic register; using it in everyday speech would be marked and likely obscure.
Easily confused with epha
"Ephah" is simply a variant spelling of the same measure, but it is also the name of a biblical people descended from Abraham's son Midian, whereas "epha" refers only to the dry measure.
An ephebe is a young Greek man of about eighteen undergoing civic training, entirely unrelated to the Hebrew grain measure "epha".