Bethlehem, also called Ephrath or Ephrathah, was the city where David and Jesus were born, located in Judah. (Multiple references, see article for details)
Also known as Beth-lehem · Bethlehemite · Lehem · Jashubi-lehem · Ephrath · Ephrathah · Ephratah
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.
Approximate location: 31.705, 35.210 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
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. 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…
BETH'LEHEM (house of bread). 1. A town in the "hill-country," about 6 miles south of Jerusalem, situated on a narrow ridge running eastward, which breaks down in abrupt terraced slopes to the deep valleys below. The town is 2527 feet above the sea. It is one of the oldest in Palestine. History. — It was Rachel's burial-place (still marked by a white mosque near the town), and called Ephrath, Gen 35:19; the home of Naomi, Boaz, and Ruth, Ruth 1:19; birthplace of David, 1 Sam 17:12; burial-place of Joab's family, 2 Sam 2:32; taken by the Philistines, and had a noted well, 2 Sam 23:14-15; fortified by Rehoboam, 2 Chr 11:6; foretold as the birthplace of Christ, Mic 5:2; the birthplace of Jesus, Matt 2:1; was visited by the shepherds, Luke 2:15-17, and by the magi, Matt 2:1-23. It is noticed over 40 times in the Bible. It has existed as a town for over 4000 years. It was a small place until after the time of Christ; was improved and its walls rebuilt by Justinian; had a famous church in a.d. 600; was destroyed by the Arabs, rebuilt by the Franks, again twice destroyed, a.d. 1214 and in 1489; rebuilt within the last two centuries; now has about 5000 inhabitants, nearly all nominally Christians, mostly of the Greek Church. The women of Bethlehem, as also those of Nazareth (the two homes of Christ), are exceptionally beautiful, and demonstrate the superiority of Christian women over Moslem women. It is now called Beit-Lahm; is surrounded by nicely kept terraces covered with vine, olive, and fig trees. The church of the Nativity, the oldest in Christendom, built in a.d. 330 by the empress Helena, stands over the grotto reputed to be the place of our Lord's birth, and is the joint property of the Greeks, Latins, and Armenians, who have separate convents adjoining it. The "plain…
BETH'LEHEM (house of bread). 1. A town in the "hill-country," about 6 miles south of Jerusalem, situated on a narrow ridge running eastward, which breaks down in abrupt terraced slopes to the deep valleys below. The town is 2527 feet above the sea. It is one of the oldest in Palestine. History. — It was Rachel's burial-place (still marked by a white mosque near the town), and called Ephrath, Gen 35:19; the home of Naomi, Boaz, and Ruth, Ruth 1:19; birthplace of David, 1 Sam 17:12; burial-place of Joab's family, 2 Sam 2:32; taken by the Philistines, and had a noted well, 2 Sam 23:14-15; fortified by Rehoboam, 2 Chr 11:6; foretold as the birthplace of Christ, Mic 5:2; the birthplace of Jesus, Matt 2:1; was visited by the shepherds, Luke 2:15-17, and by the magi, Matt 2:1-23. It is noticed over 40 times in the Bible. It has existed as a town for over 4000 years. It was a small place until after the time of Christ; was improved and
its walls rebuilt by Justinian; had a famous church in a.d. 600; was destroyed by the Arabs, rebuilt by the Franks, again twice destroyed, a.d. 1214 and in 1489; rebuilt within the last two centuries; now has about 5000 inhabitants, nearly all nominally Christians, mostly of the Greek Church. The women of Bethlehem, as also those of Nazareth (the two homes of Christ), are exceptionally beautiful, and demonstrate the superiority of Christian women over Moslem women. It is now called Beit-Lahm; is surrounded by nicely kept terraces covered with vine, olive, and fig trees. The church of the Nativity, the oldest in Christendom, built in a.d. 330 by the empress Helena, stands over the grotto reputed to be the place of our Lord's birth, and is the joint property of the Greeks, Latins, and Armenians, who have separate convents adjoining it. The "plain…
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
53 verses in 15 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H1035
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.
So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
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).
After Jephthah, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.
Then Ibzan died, and he was buried in Bethlehem.
And there was a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah who had been residing within the clan of Judah.
This man left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to settle where he could find a place. And as he traveled, he came to Micahʼs house in the hill country of Ephraim.
“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.”
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.
But she was unfaithful to him and left him to return to her fatherʼs house in Bethlehem in Judah. After she had been there four months,
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,
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.
The manʼs name was Elimelech, his wifeʼs 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.
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?”
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.
Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters, “The LORD be with you.” “The LORD bless you,” they replied.
“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.
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.”
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?”
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.”
Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah who had eight sons in the days of Saul. And Jesse was old and well along in years.
but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his fatherʼs sheep in Bethlehem.
“Whose son are you, young man?” asked Saul. “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David replied.
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.’
Jonathan answered, “David urgently requested my permission to go to Bethlehem,
And they took Asahel and buried him in his fatherʼs tomb in Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men marched all night and reached Hebron at daybreak.
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 weaverʼs beam.
At that time David was in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was at Bethlehem.
David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!”
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,
Now these were members of the Thirty: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo of Bethlehem,
Salma the father of Bethlehem, and Hareph the father of Beth-gader.
The descendants of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, half the Manahathites, the Zorites,
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.
Jokim, the men of Cozeba, and Joash and Saraph, who ruled in Moab and Jashubi-lehem. (These names are from ancient records.)
At that time David was in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was at Bethlehem.
David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!”
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,
Now these were the mighty men: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo of Bethlehem,
He built up Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,
the men of Bethlehem, 123;
the men of Bethlehem and Netophah, 188;
We heard that the ark was in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar.
And they went and stayed in Geruth Chimham, near Bethlehem, in order to proceed into Egypt
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel— One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem,
“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of My people Israel.’”
And sending them to Bethlehem, he said: “Go and search carefully for the Child, and when you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.”
When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.
So Joseph also went up from Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, since he was from the house and line of David.
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
Doesnʼt the Scripture say that the Christ will come from the line of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.