EPHRAIM, FOREST (WOODS) OF ē’ frĭ əm (יַ֥עַר אֶפְרָֽיִם, the forest of Ephraim whose name is connected with fruit-bearing. Referred to explicitly in 2 Samuel 18:6-17 and implicitly in Joshua 17:14-18). Opinions differ as to whether the latter refers to the expansion by the house of Joseph eastward into Trans-Jordan (K. Budde, ZAW, 7 [1887], pp. 123f.; C. E. Burnes, Israel’s Settlements in Canaan [London, 1919], pp. 20ff.) or to settlement in the forested sectors of the Ephraimite hill country itself. Two statements in Joshua 17:15 found in the MT support the first view: (1) “the land of Rephaim” (“giants” KJV) is a typical expression for Trans-Jordan (see Valley of Rephaim), and (2) “the forest” is placed in juxtaposition with Mount Ephraim clearly in Cis-Jordan. Its association with Mahanaim (2 Sam 17:27), formerly Eshbaal’s Trans-Jordanian capital (2 Sam 2:8, 9), firmly establishes this location. Originally this territory was granted to “the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh” (Josh 17:17). Ephraim later lost this woodland E of Jordan to Jephthah and the Gileadites (Judg 12:1-15). LXX Lucian may have changed the text of 2 Samuel 8:6 to “the forest of Mahanaim” to modernize or clarify its location. Although the Heb. word tr. “forest” has widely divergent meaning (D. Baly, The Geography of the Bible [1957], pp. 83, 93), it prob. has the normal significance of the Eng. tr. because (1) Joshua commands the people “to clear ground” (Josh 17:15) and (2) Absalom’s rebellion ended with his head caught in a tree.