CHEPHIRAH:
City belonging originally to the Gibeonites (Josh. ix. 17), but which, in the apportionment of the land, fell to the lot of Benjamin (Josh. xviii. 26). Men of this city returned with Zerubbabel from the captivity in Babylon (Ezra ii. 25; Neh. vii. 29: in both instances the town is mentioned in connection with Kirjath-jearim [=arim] and Beeroth). In I Esd. v. 19 the place is called "Caphira." It is, perhaps, to be identified with the ruins now called "Kefire." The word "Kephirim" of Neh. vi.2 may refer to Chephirah (F. Buhl, "Geographie des Alten Palästina," p. 169).
