The meaning of the phrase that literally reads, in the midst of Ephraim, in the midst of Manasseh,
is uncertain. But as part of the insult to these fugitives,
it amounts to their being called riffraff, the rejected garbage of Ephraim and Manasseh.
1 They will find no refuge in Manasseh, their homeland.2
4 Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.”