Sepharad
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Sepharad is a Biblical placename of uncertain location. Persian inscriptions refer to two places called "Saparda", one in Media and the other in Asia Minor: the latter may be Sardes. It is only mentioned once in the Bible, in the Book of Obadiah. After the Peshitta (2nd century), it was identified with the Iberian Peninsula. The descendants of the Iberian Jews are still called Sephardim, and Sepharad is the modern Hebrew for "Spain."

The abbot Chaud explained the connection through Hesperia, one of the Classical Greek names used for Iberia. St. Jerome's Vulgate translates bi-Sepharad as "in the Bosphorus".

Zarephath (Sarepta in Lebanon) was itself later identified with France.

References

• Ovadiah 1:20 "And this exiled host of the children of Israel who are [with] the Canaanites as far as Zarephath and the exile of Jerusalem which is in Sepharad shall inherit the cities of the southland" - Chabad.org.
• Obadiah 1:20 "And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel, that are among the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath, and the captivity of Jerusalem, that is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the South." JPS Bible at Jewish Virtual Library - Obadiah 1
• Obadiah, 1-20:
  • And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south. (KJV)
  • et transmigratio exercitus huius filiorum Israhel omnia Chananeorum usque ad Saraptham et transmigratio Hierusalem quae in Bosforo est possidebit civitates austri. (Vulgate)

External links

• Sefarad, Journal on Hebraic, Sephardim and Middle East Studies, ILC, CSIC (scientific articles in Spanish, English and other languages)