Gath-hepher
{{Short description|Border town in ancient Israel}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{coord|32|44|30|N|35|19|30|E|display=title}}
{{Location map | Israel
| alt = Gath-hepher
| lat_deg = 32
|lat_min =44
| lon_deg = 35
|lon_min = 19
}}
Gath-hepher or Gat Hefer ({{langx|he|גַּת הַחֵפֶר|Gaṯ haḤēp̄er}}) was a border town in the Northern Kingdom of Israel around the 8th century BCE. According to the Deuteronomistic history, it was the home of the prophet Jonah.{{bibleverse|2|Kings|14:25}}
History
File:Tombeau du prophète Jonas a El-Mechhed, L'ancienne Gath-ha-Hepher.jpg
Gath means winepress in Hebrew.{{cite web|title=Lexicon Results for Gath-ha-Chepher|url=http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H1662|publisher=Blue Letter Bible|access-date=7 August 2012}}Jerusalem Talmud (Kila'im 9:3; Genesis Rabba § 98:15; not a ruin, per se, but a recognised land feature (e.g. "wine press") known to the ancients as "Gob'batha of Sepphoris," situate some 3 biblical miles from Sepphoris. Marcus Jastrow explains "Gob'batha" as meanings "hills". In J. Payne Smith's A Compendious Syriac Dictionary the word is explained as meaning "a pit, hole, den, cavern." In the Jerusalem Talmud, the name is written in its elided-form, פפתה, instead of גובבתא/גופפתא. The place is said to have been the birthplace of Jonah the prophet. The town is mentioned twice in the Hebrew Bible, in Joshua 19:13 and 2 Kings 14:25. In Joshua, a copying error has resulted in the form Gittah-hepher.{{cite book |author=Thomas Kelly Cheyne |editor1=T. K. Cheyne|editor2=J. Sutherland Black|date=1901|orig-year=1899 |chapter=Gath-hepher|title=Encyclopaedia Biblica: A Critical Dictionary of the Literary, Political, and Religious History, the Archaeology, Geography, and Natural History of the Bible |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabib02cheyuoft |volume=2, E-K|location=New York |publisher=The Macmillan Company |author-link=Thomas Kelly Cheyne }}
Jerome in Roman Empire describes the town as "an inconsiderable village" and tells that the tomb of Jonah was nearby.{{cite book|last=Ewing|first=William|title=The Temple Dictionary of the Bible|year=1910|publisher=J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd.|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/templedictionar00unkngoog/page/n282 216]|url=https://archive.org/details/templedictionar00unkngoog}} Similarly, the medieval geographer Benjamin of Tudela also relates the tomb of Jonah in his travels to the area.
Today the site, at latitude 32° 44' 30" N and longitude 35° 19' 30" E in the Galilee, is a small set of ruins on a hilltop near the Arab village of Mashhad five kilometres north of Nazareth and one kilometre from Kafr Kanna. The supposed tomb of Jonah is still pointed out by locals.