And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the
Ephraimites
Being either swifter of foot, or going a nearer and shorter way, being better acquainted with their own country:
and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, let
me go over;
the fugitives of Ephraim, as before called, who ran away from the battle, made their escape, and the best of their way to the passages of Jordan, to get over there to their own country:
that the men of Gilead said unto him;
to everyone of them, as they came up,
art thou an Ephraimite?
or an Ephrathite; for so it seems those of the tribe of Ephraim were called, as Jeroboam, ( 1 Kings 11:26 )
if he said, nay; that he was not an Ephraimite;