Mephaath

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Meph'a-ath. (splendor height). City of the Reubenites, one of the towns independently at Heshhon,  Joshua 13:18, lying in the district of the Mishor. Compare  Joshua 13:17 and  Jeremiah 48:21. Authorized Version, "plain," which probably answered to the modern Belka . It was one of the cities allotted, with their suburbs, to the Merarite Levites.  Joshua 21:37;  1 Chronicles 6:79. It's site is uncertain.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Mephaath. A city of Reuben (  Joshua 13:18 ); assigned to the Levites (  Joshua 21:37 ,   1 Chronicles 6:79 ); a Moabite city in   Jeremiah 48:21 . In the 4th cent. a.d. it is said to have been the station of a Roman garrison.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("beauty".) A town of Reuben ( Joshua 13:17-18;  Joshua 21:37); a dependency of Heshbon, N. of Amen, in the "downs" (mishor ), the modern Belka ( Jeremiah 48:21). Assigned to the Merarite Levites. Regained by Moab.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Levitical city in Reuben, east of the Jordan.  Joshua 13:18;  Joshua 21:37;  1 Chronicles 6:79;  Jeremiah 48:21 . Not identified

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Joshua 13:18 Joshua 21:37 1 Chronicles 6:79 Jeremiah 48:21

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Joshua 21:37

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

[some Mepha'ath] (Hebrews Meypha'ath, מֵיפִעִת, prob. splendor ; once defectively written מֵפִעִת .  Joshua 13:18, and once [Kethib] מוֹפִעִת,  Jeremiah 48:21; Sept. Μηφάαθ in Josh., Φαάθ v. r. Μαεφλά in Chron. And Μαφάς v. r. Μωφάθ in Jer.), a Levitical (Merarite) city ( Joshua 21:37;  1 Chronicles 6:79) of the tribe of Reuben ( Joshua 13:18), doubtless originally (like Heshbon, of which it formed a dependency) in the hands of the Amorites ( Numbers 21:26), but afterwards belonging to Moab ( Jeremiah 48:21); probably situated near Kedemoth and Jahazah, in connection with which it is always mentioned. Eusebius (Onomast .) calls it Mephath (Μηφάθ), and states that it was still occupied by a Roman garrison as a defence against the Arabs of the neighboring desert. As the name implies a conspicuous position, the site may possibly correspond with that of the modern village with ruins on an eminence marked as Umn el- Weled on Van de Velde's Map , east of Medeba. "The extended, and possibly later, form of the name which occurs in Chronicles and Jeremiah, as if Mey Phaath , ‘ waters of Phaath,' may be, as in other cases, an attempt to fix an intelligible meaning on an archaic or foreign word;" although the fuller form appears to be radical (so both Gesenius and Ftirst, from

יָפִע, to glitter, be eminent ).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

mef´ā́ - ath , mḗ - fā´ath ( מפעת , mēpha‛ath and מיפעת , mēypha‛ath , מופעת , mōpha‛ath  ; Codex Vaticanus, Μαιφάαθ , Maipháath , Μηφάαθ , Mēpháath ): A city of the Amorites in the territory allotted to Reuben, named with Kedemoth and Kiriathaim (  Joshua 13:18 ), and given to the Merarite Levites ( Joshua 21:37;  1 Chronicles 6:79 ). It appears again as a Moabite town in  Jeremiah 48:21 . It was known to Eusebius and Jerome (Onom) as occupied by a Roman garrison, but the site has been lost.