אֶ֫פֶס
e.phes (H0657A)
end
AI Word Study
# Ephes (אֶפֶס): The Concept of Ending in Biblical Hebrew The Hebrew word *ephes* refers fundamentally to an "end"—a terminus or boundary point. With 43 occurrences throughout the Bible, this term appears frequently enough to reveal its importance in biblical thought, though it remains focused on a single core concept. The word functions as a straightforward descriptor of conclusion, whether spatial (the end of a territory), temporal (the conclusion of a period), or abstract (the limit of something). The consistency of the definition across biblical usage suggests that *ephes* was a practical, common term rather than a specialized or emotionally charged one. Its relatively high frequency indicates that biblical writers regularly needed to express the idea of endings, boundaries, and cessation. This reflects a fundamental concern with demarcation and limitation—distinguishing where something concludes and another begins. Without access to specific contextual examples, we can observe that the word's semantic stability across 43 different instances points to a reliable, straightforward vocabulary item rather than one carrying metaphorical or contested meanings. The significance of *ephes* lies in its basic utility within biblical Hebrew discourse: it provided speakers and writers with a clear term for expressing finitude and limits, concepts central to describing both the physical world and the progression of time within biblical narratives.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the children of Anak there.
Yahweh’s angel said to Balaam, “Go with the men; but only the word that I shall speak to you, that you shall speak.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place, where you may see them. You shall see just part of them, and shall not see them all. Curse them from there for me.”
However there will be no poor with you (for Yahweh will surely bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance to possess)
For Yahweh will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone; that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large.
Majesty belongs to the firstborn of his herd. His horns are the horns of the wild ox. With them he will push all the peoples to the ends of the earth. They are the ten thousands of Ephraim. They are the thousands of Manasseh.”
She said, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the journey that you take won’t be for your honor; for Yahweh will sell Sisera into a woman’s hand.” Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in the sky. “Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
The king said, “Is there not yet any of Saul’s house, that I may show the kindness of God to him?” Ziba said to the king, “Jonathan still has a son, who is lame in his feet.”
However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to Yahweh’s enemies to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you will surely die.”
For Yahweh saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter; for all, slave and free, and there was no helper for Israel.
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Yahweh. All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you.
Consume them in wrath. Consume them, and they will be no more. Let them know that God rules in Jacob, to the ends of the earth.
God will bless us. All the ends of the earth shall fear him.
He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.
He has remembered his loving kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
In the multitude of people is the king’s glory, but in the lack of people is the destruction of the prince.
For lack of wood a fire goes out. Without gossip, a quarrel dies down.
Who has ascended up into heaven, and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in his garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if you know?
Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land!
They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there; and all its princes shall be nothing.
All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.
You will seek them, and won’t find them, even those who contend with you. Those who war against you will be as nothing, as a non-existent thing.
Behold, all of their deeds are vanity and nothing. Their molten images are wind and confusion.
that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is no one besides me. I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.
Yahweh says: “The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you, and they will be yours. They will go after you. They shall come over in chains. They will bow down to you. They will make supplication to you: ‘Surely God is in you; and there is no one else. There is no other god.
“Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me.
“Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me. I won’t sit as a widow, neither will I know the loss of children.’
For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and your knowledge has perverted you. You have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’
For the Lord Yahweh says: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there: and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause.
Yahweh has made his holy arm bare in the eyes of all the nations. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Behold, they may gather together, but not by me. Whoever gathers together against you will fall because of you.
Yahweh, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations will come to you from the ends of the earth, and will say, “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, vanity and things in which there is no profit.
Through his policy he will cause deceit to prosper in his hand. He will magnify himself in his heart, and he will destroy many in their security. He will also stand up against the prince of princes; but he will be broken without hand.
“When a man’s relative carries him, even he who burns him, to bring bodies out of the house, and asks him who is in the innermost parts of the house, ‘Is there yet any with you?’ And he says, ‘No;’ then he will say, ‘Hush! Indeed we must not mention Yahweh’s name.’
Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” says Yahweh.
He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God: and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.
This is the joyous city that lived carelessly, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” How she has become a desolation, a place for animals to lie down in! Everyone who passes by her will hiss, and shake their fists.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow will be cut off; and he will speak peace to the nations: and his dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.