Ephrath

Ephrath (also Ephrathah) was the old name for Bethlehem, used in the patriarchal narratives. As Jacob's family traveled south from Bethel, Rachel went into hard labor "still some distance from Ephrath" (Genesis 35:16-19). She named her son Ben-oni ("son of my sorrow") with her dying breath, but Jacob renamed him Benjamin. "So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), and Jacob set up a pillar over her grave." Centuries later, Micah's messianic prophecy named "Bethlehem Ephrathah" as the small clan from which Israel's future ruler would come (Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:6).