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[some Mepha'ath] (Hebrews Meypha'ath, îֵéôִòִú , prob. splendor; once defectively written îֵôִòִú . Jos_13:18, and once [Kethib] îåֹôִòִú , Jer_48:21; Sept. ÌçöÜáè in Josh., ÖáÜè v. r. ÌáåöëÜ in Chron. And ÌáöÜò v. r. ÌùöÜè in Jer.), a Levitical (Merarite) city (Jos_21:37; 1Ch_6:79) of the tribe of Reuben (Jos_13:18), doubtless originally (like Heshbon, of which it formed a dependency) in the hands of the Amorites (Num_21:26), but afterwards belonging to Moab (Jer_48:21); probably situated near Kedemoth and Jahazah, in connection with which it is always mentioned. Eusebius (Onomast.) calls it Mephath ( ÌçöÜè ), 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
éָôִò , to glitter, be eminent).