One other person, place or group in the registry answers to the name Bethel. Every Bethel in the Bible
place · also Bethuel · Bethul
Bethel
בֵּֽיתְ־אֵל
- verses
- 3
- first named
- Joshua 19:4
- last named
- 1 Samuel 30:27
- feature
- settlement
- coordinates
- 31.34°N · 35.12°E
Khirbet el Qaryatein (OpenBible)
Scholarship offers 2 identifications for this place. The leading one is shown; the others are recorded in the gazetteer.
Description
Bethel in the text
This Bethel was a town in the southern region of Judah, distinct from the more famous Bethel in the north where Jacob had his vision. It is listed among the cities allocated to the tribe of Simeon within Judah's territory (Joshua 19:4). The same settlement appears in the genealogical records of 1Ch.4.30 as part of Simeon's territory.
The town gained some prominence during David's early career when he sent some of the spoils from his victory over the Amalekites to its elders (1Sa.30.27). This gesture was part of David's political strategy of building alliances with the towns of Judah.
Probably corresponds to the settlement called Bethuel in some passages, though its exact modern location remains uncertain.
Note: Care must be taken not to confuse this southern Bethel with the more prominent northern city of the same name where significant events in the lives of Abraham, Jacob, and Jeroboam took place. The references provided relate specifically to this southern settlement.
Relations
Direct connections
Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.
Read it
Where to read it
Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 3, across 3 books.
Onward
Where this page goes
Not the direct relations above — these are one hop further out, ranked so that a rare shared connection outweighs a common one. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.
Sources