City of David's birth and Jesus' birth.
Bethlehem
Named in 53 verses across 15 books, first in Genesis 35:16.
בֵּית לֶ֫חֶםBethlehem
בֵּית הַלַּחְמִיBethlehemite
יָשֻׁ֫בִי לָ֑חֶםLehem
אֶפְרָ֫תָהEphrath
ΒηθλεέμBethlehem
Also called Bethlehemite, Lehem, Ephrath.
About Bethlehem Written by AI
Bethlehem, also known as Ephrath or Ephrathah, is a city located in the hill country of Judah, approximately 5 miles south of Jerusalem. The name Bethlehem means "house of bread," while Ephrath or Ephrathah means "fruitful." Bethlehem is first mentioned in the Bible as the burial place of Rachel, Jacob's wife (Genesis 35:19; 48:7). It was also the hometown of Ibzan, one of the judges of Israel (Judges 12:8, 10). During the period of the judges, a Levite from Bethlehem became a priest for Micah's idolatrous shrine (Judges 17:7-9). Later, a Levite from Bethlehem traveled to Gibeah, where his concubine was mistreated, leading to a war between the Israelites and the Benjamites (Judges 19:1-2, 18). The book of Ruth is set primarily in Bethlehem, where Naomi and her family were from (Ruth 1:1-2, 19, 22). Boaz, who married Ruth, was also from Bethlehem (Ruth 2:4; 4:11). Bethlehem is most famously known as the hometown of King David (1Sa.16.1, 18; 17:12, 15; 20:6, 28). It was in Bethlehem that Samuel anointed David as the future king of Israel (1Sa.16.4). During David's reign, the city was referred to as the "city of David" (Luke 2:4, 11). Several of David's mighty men, including Abishai and Elhanan, were from Bethlehem (2Sa.23.24; 1Ch.11.26; 2Sa.21.19). In the New Testament, Bethlehem is celebrated as the birthplace of Jesus Christ (Matthew 2:1, 5-6, 8, 16; Luke 2:4, 15; Jhn.7.42). The Magi visited Jesus in Bethlehem, and King Herod ordered the massacre of the innocents there in an attempt to kill the newborn king (Matthew 2:16). The prophet Micah foretold that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), and this prophecy is cited in Matthew 2:5-6.
Drafted by an AI model for STEPBible's TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Check it against the verses below.
Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897
This entry is on the name Bethlehem, and may cover more than one person or place by that name.
House of bread. (1.) A city in the “hill country” of Judah. It was originally called Ephrath (Gen. 35:16, 19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11). It was also called Beth-lehem Ephratah (Micah 5:2), Beth-lehem-judah (1 Sam. 17:12), and “the city of David” (Luke 2:4). It is first noticed in Scripture as the place where Rachel died and was buried “by the wayside,” directly to the north of the city (Gen. 48:7). The valley to the east was the scene of the story of Ruth the Moabitess. There are the fields in which she gleaned, and the path by which she and Naomi returned to the town. Here was David’s birth-place, and here also, in after years, he was anointed as king by Samuel (1 Sam. 16:4-13); and it was from the well of Bethlehem that three of his heroes brought water for him at the risk of their lives when he was in the cave of Adullam (2 Sam. 23:13-17). But it was distinguished above every other city as the birth-place of “Him whose goings forth have been of old” (Matt. 2:6; comp. Micah 5:2). Afterwards Herod, “when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men,” sent and slew “all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under” (Matt. 2:16, 18; Jer. 31:15).
Bethlehem bears the modern name of Beit-Lahm, i.e., “house of flesh.” It is about 5 miles south of Jerusalem, standing at an elevation of about 2,550 feet above the sea, thus 100 feet higher than Jerusalem.
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There is a church still existing, built by Constantine the Great (A.D. 330), called the “Church of the Nativity,” over a grotto or cave called the “holy crypt,” and said to be the “stable” in which Jesus was born. This is perhaps the oldest existing Christian church in the world. Close to it is another grotto, where Jerome the Latin father is said to have spent thirty years of his life in translating the Scriptures into Latin. (See VERSION.)
(2.) A city of Zebulun, mentioned only in Josh. 19:15. Now Beit-Lahm, a ruined village about 6 miles west-north-west of Nazareth.
M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, third edition (1897), public domain, from CrossWire. Shown as written; its Scripture quotes are from older translations.
31.705, 35.210 See it on a map
Where the Bible names it
- Genesis 35:16
Later, they set out from Bethel, and while they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult.
- Genesis 35:19
So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
- Genesis 48:7
Now as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died along the way in the land of Canaan, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).
- Judges 12:8
After Jephthah, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.
- Judges 12:10
Then Ibzan died, and he was buried in Bethlehem.
- Judges 17:7
And there was a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah who had been residing within the clan of Judah.
- Judges 17:8
This man left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to settle where he could find a place. And as he traveled, he came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim.
- Judges 17:9
“Where are you from?” Micah asked him. “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,” he replied, “and I am on my way to settle wherever I can find a place.”
- Judges 19:1
Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite who lived in the remote hill country of Ephraim took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
- Judges 19:2
But she was unfaithful to him and left him to return to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. After she had been there four months,
- Judges 19:18
The Levite replied, “We are traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote hill country of Ephraim, where I am from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and now I am going to the house of the LORD; but no one has taken me into his home,
- Ruth 1:1
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man from Bethlehem in Judah, with his wife and two sons, went to reside in the land of Moab.
- Ruth 1:2
The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, and they entered the land of Moab and settled there.
- Ruth 1:19
So Naomi and Ruth traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women of the town exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
- Ruth 1:22
So Naomi returned from the land of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. And they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
- Ruth 2:4
Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters, “The LORD be with you.” “The LORD bless you,” they replied.
- Ruth 4:11
“We are witnesses,” said the elders and all the people at the gate. “May the LORD make the woman entering your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you be prosperous in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem.
- 1 Samuel 16:1
Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have selected from his sons a king for Myself.”
- 1 Samuel 16:4
So Samuel did what the LORD had said and went to Bethlehem. When the elders of the town met him, they trembled and asked, “Do you come in peace?”
- 1 Samuel 16:18
One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a mighty man of valor, a warrior, eloquent and handsome, and the LORD is with him.”
- 1 Samuel 17:12
Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah who had eight sons. And in the days of Saul, Jesse was old and well along in years.
- 1 Samuel 17:15
but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.
- 1 Samuel 17:58
“Whose son are you, young man?” asked Saul. “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David replied.
- 1 Samuel 20:6
If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David urgently requested my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because there is an annual sacrifice for his whole clan.’
- 1 Samuel 20:28
Jonathan answered, “David urgently requested my permission to go to Bethlehem,
- 2 Samuel 2:32
And they took Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb in Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men marched all night and reached Hebron at daybreak.
- 2 Samuel 21:19
Once again there was a battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
- 2 Samuel 23:14
At that time David was in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was at Bethlehem.
- 2 Samuel 23:15
David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!”
- 2 Samuel 23:16
So the three mighty men broke through the Philistine camp, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem, and brought it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out to the LORD,
- 2 Samuel 23:24
Now these were members of the Thirty: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo of Bethlehem,
- 1 Chronicles 2:51
Salma the father of Bethlehem, and Hareph the father of Beth-gader.
- 1 Chronicles 2:54
The descendants of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, half the Manahathites, the Zorites,
- 1 Chronicles 4:4
Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer was the father of Hushah. These were the descendants of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah and the father of Bethlehem.
- 1 Chronicles 4:22
Jokim, the men of Cozeba, and Joash and Saraph, who ruled in Moab and Jashubi-lehem. (These names are from ancient records.)
- 1 Chronicles 11:16
At that time David was in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was at Bethlehem.
- 1 Chronicles 11:17
David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!”
- 1 Chronicles 11:18
So the Three broke through the Philistine camp, drew water from the well at the gate of Bethlehem, and brought it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out to the LORD,
- 1 Chronicles 11:26
Now these were the mighty men: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo of Bethlehem,
- 2 Chronicles 11:6
He built up Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,
From STEPBible's TIPNR, Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0): names, family, references and the AI written article. Verse text is the BSB.