Bible word study

Ephec (Strong’s H657): Meaning in the Bible

Ephec (אֶפֶס) is the Hebrew word numbered H657 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as cessation, i.e. an end (especially of the earth); often used adverb, no further; also the ankle (in the dual), as being the extremity of the leg or foot. In the King James Bible it is translated ankle, but (only), end, howbeit, less than nothing.

אֶפֶס
ʼepheç · Hebrew
Strong’s H657 · eh'-fes

The full Strong’s definition

cessation, i.e. an end (especially of the earth); often used adverb, no further; also the ankle (in the dual), as being the extremity of the leg or foot

Derivation. from H656; (sometimes like H6466)

How the King James Bible translates it

ankle, but (only), end, howbeit, less than nothing, nevertheless (where), no, none (beside), not (any, -withstanding), thing of nought, save(-ing), there, uttermost part, want, without (cause).

Why the word matters

Every word the biblical writers chose carries weight. Studying Ephec in the original Hebrew lets you read the passages where it appears more carefully, closer to what the first hearers understood, so the meaning is drawn from the text itself rather than from the English alone.

The lexical data on this page comes from the public-domain Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890), a Hebrew and Greek dictionary keyed to the King James Bible. It is a reference tool, not a settled verdict: no single word decides a doctrine, and meaning is finally shaped by how a word is used in its sentences. Read the passages themselves, prayerfully, and in full.

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