What happened at Bethlehem.
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 in translating the Scriptures into Latin.
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897).
People named with Bethlehem.
All 39 verses that name this Bethlehem.
Genesis 2
- Genesis 35:19And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.
- Genesis 48:7And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Bethlehem.
Ruth 4
- Ruth 1:19So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?
- Ruth 1:22So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
- Ruth 2:4And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee.
- Ruth 4:11And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:
1 Samuel 7
- 1 Samuel 16:1And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.
- 1 Samuel 16:4And Samuel did that which the LORD spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably?
- 1 Samuel 16:18Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him.
- 1 Samuel 17:15But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
- 1 Samuel 17:58And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.
- 1 Samuel 20:6If thy father at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city: for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.
- 1 Samuel 20:28And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem:
2 Samuel 6
- 2 Samuel 2:32And they took up Asahel, and buried him in the sepulchre of his father, which was in Bethlehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and they came to Hebron at break of day.
- 2 Samuel 21:19And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
- 2 Samuel 23:14And David was then in an hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.
- 2 Samuel 23:15And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!
- 2 Samuel 23:16And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD.
- 2 Samuel 23:24Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,
1 Chronicles 7
- 1 Chronicles 2:51Salma the father of Bethlehem, Hareph the father of Beth-gader.
- 1 Chronicles 2:54The sons of Salma; Bethlehem, and the Netophathites, Ataroth, the house of Joab, and half of the Manahethites, the Zorites.
- 1 Chronicles 4:4And Penuel the father of Gedor and Ezer the father of Hushah. These are the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratah, the father of Bethlehem.
- 1 Chronicles 11:16And David was then in the hold, and the Philistines’ garrison was then at Bethlehem.
- 1 Chronicles 11:17And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that is at the gate!
- 1 Chronicles 11:18And the three brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but David would not drink of it, but poured it out to the LORD,
- 1 Chronicles 11:26Also the valiant men of the armies were, Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem,
2 Chronicles 1
Ezra 1
- Ezra 2:21The children of Bethlehem, an hundred twenty and three.
Nehemiah 1
- Nehemiah 7:26The men of Bethlehem and Netophah, an hundred fourscore and eight.
Jeremiah 1
- Jeremiah 41:17And they departed, and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt,
Micah 1
- Micah 5:2But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Matthew 5
- Matthew 2:1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
- Matthew 2:5And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
- Matthew 2:6And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
- Matthew 2:8And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
- Matthew 2:16Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.
Luke 2
- Luke 2:4And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
- Luke 2:15And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
John 1
- John 7:42Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?
Other places called Bethlehem.
Bethlehem, about 106 km (66 miles) north of Jerusalem.
A city, named in 2 verses.
- Judges 12:8And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.
- Judges 12:10Then died Ibzan, and was buried at Bethlehem.
Bethlehem, about 106 km (66 miles) north of Jerusalem.
A town, named in 1 verse.
- Joshua 19:15And Kattath, and Nahallal, and Shimron, and Idalah, and Bethlehem: twelve cities with their villages.