(Heb. Yosiphyah', יוֹסַפַיָה , increased by Jehovah; Sept. Ι᾿ωσεφία ), one of the "sons" of Shelomith (as the Heb. text now stands), a chief Israelite, whose son (Ben-Josiphiah) returned with a company of 160 males under Ezra to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:10). B.C. 459. A word, however, has evidently fallen out of the Hebrew text in the beginning of the verse, and is supplied by the Sept. and the author of 1 Esdras 8:36, as well as (less correctly) in the Syriac; namely, Βαανί (Βανίδ ), i.e. בָּני, omitted from similarity to בְּנֵי preceding; thus making Bani (q.v.) the son of Shelomith, and the leader of the party of returned exiles.
Josippon.
(See JOSEPH BEN-GORION).