The border went out from Tappuah westward,.... Which was different from the Tappuah in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:34; this was in the tribe of Ephraim on the border of Manasseh, Joshua 17:8;
unto the river Kanah; supposed by some to be the brook Cherith, by which Elijah hid himself, 1 Kings 17:3; though objected to by others; it seems to have had its name from the reeds which grew in it, or on the banks of it:
and the goings out thereof were at the sea; if the river Kanah was the brook Cherith, this must be the dead or salt sea: but that is never called "the sea", rather the Mediterranean sea is meant, and consequently Kanah could not be Cherith, which was at too great a distance from this sea:
this [is] the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim by their families; that is, this is the description of the border of it; for the cities within are not mentioned, and the descriptions in general are very obscure.