OPHNI (ŏf'nī, Heb. hā-‘ophnî). A city in the northern part of Benjamin, mentioned only in Josh.18.24. It lay about two and a half miles (four km.) NW of Bethel on one of the two main roads northward from Jerusalem to Samaria. Now called Jifneh.
OPHNI ŏf’ nī (
עָפְנִ֖י). A place allotted to the tribe of Benjamin after Israel, following its Egyp. exodus, had taken possession of Pal. (
Josh 18:24). Grollenberg’s
Atlas of the Bible lists the exact site as unknown. It has been suggested that the place is the same as Gophna, a town referred to by Josephus (War III. iii. 5). This place survives in the modern Jiffa, and is located c. three m. NW of Bethel (
see Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
A place in the territory of Benjamin (Jos 18:24). The modern Jifneh, in a fine vale West of the road to Nablus and 2 1/2 miles Northwest of Bethel, might suit as to position; but the change in the initial letter from `ain to jim is not easy. This is the Gophna of the rabbis (compare Josephus, Jewish Wars, III, iii, 5).
