bet-el · Bethel

What it means

bet-el (בֵּית־אֵל) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “Bethel”.

A town north of Jerusalem. Its name means "house of God" (Genesis 28:19).

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

The place

• Bethel ?

  Today: possibly Beitin, West Bank

  A city in the hills about 11 miles (17 km) north of Jerusalem; the location is approximate.

  There Jacob dreamed of a ladder reaching to heaven and named the place Bethel, "house of God" (Gen 28:19). Jeroboam set up a golden calf there (1 Kgs 12:29).

  Genesis 28:19Genesis 12:81 Kings 12:29Amos 7:13

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×26
• Joshua×20
• Judges×18
• 1 Samuel×8
• 1 Kings×20
• 2 Kings×20
• 1 Chronicles×2
• 2 Chronicles×2
• Ezra×2
• Nehemiah×4
• Jeremiah×2
• Hosea×4
• Amos×14
• Zechariah×2

• Genesis 12:8

  From there he moved on to the mountain east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to YHWH and called on the name of YHWH.

• Genesis 13:3

  He went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,

• Genesis 28:19

  He called the name of that place Bethel, but Luz was the name of the city at first.

• Genesis 31:13

  I am El of Bethel, where you anointed a standing stone, where you made to me a vow. Now get up, leave this land and return to the land of your kindred.’”

• Genesis 35:1

  Elohim said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and stay there, and make there an altar to El who appeared to you when you fled from Esau your brother.”

• Genesis 35:3

  Let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to El who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me on the way that I have gone.”

• Genesis 35:6

  Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan (that is, Bethel), he and all the people who were with him.

• Genesis 35:7

  He built there an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there Elohim had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.

• Genesis 35:8

  Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried below Bethel under the oak; so he called its name Allon-bacuth.

• Genesis 35:15

  Jacob called the name of the place where Elohim had spoken with him Bethel.

• Genesis 35:16

  They set out from Bethel, and when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and her labor was hard.

• Joshua 7:2

  Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” The men went up and spied out Ai.

• Joshua 8:9

  So Joshua sent them, and they went to the place of ambush and stayed between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai; and Joshua spent that night among the people.

• Joshua 8:12

  He took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.

• Joshua 8:17

  Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel; and they abandoned the city open and pursued Israel.

• Joshua 12:9

  the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one;

• Joshua 12:16

  the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one;

• Joshua 16:1

  And the lot for the sons of Joseph went out from the Jordan by Jericho, to the waters of Jericho on the east, through the wilderness going up from Jericho into the hill country of Bethel;

• Joshua 16:2

  and it went out from Bethel to Luz, and passed along to the territory of the Archites at Ataroth;

• Joshua 18:13

  And from there the border passed along to Luz, to the slope of Luz on the south (that is Bethel); and the border went down to Ataroth-addar, on the hill that is south of Lower Beth-horon.

• Joshua 18:22

  Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,

• Judges 1:22

  The house of Joseph, they too, went up against Bethel, and YHWH was with them.

• Judges 1:23

  The house of Joseph had men scout out Bethel (the name of the city formerly was Luz).

• Judges 4:5

  She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment.

• Judges 20:18

  They arose and went up to Bethel and inquired of Elohim; and the sons of Israel said, “Who shall go up for us first to war with the sons of Benjamin?” And YHWH said, “Judah first.”

• Judges 20:26

  Then all the sons of Israel and all the people went up and came to Bethel and wept, and they sat there before YHWH and fasted on that day until evening, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before YHWH.

• Judges 20:31

  And the sons of Benjamin went out to meet the people; they were drawn away from the city, and they began to strike some of the people, leaving them dead, as at other times, on the highways, of which one goes up to Bethel and one to Gibeah in the field: about thirty men of Israel.

• Judges 21:2

  And the people came to Bethel and sat there until evening before Elohim, and they lifted up their voice and wept with great weeping.

• Judges 21:19

  And they said, “Look, there is the feast of YHWH in Shiloh from year to year, which is north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”

• 1 Samuel 7:16

  He would go year by year and make the round of Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah, and judge Israel in all these places.

• 1 Samuel 10:3

  Then you will go on from there farther and come to the oak of Tabor, and there three men going up to Elohim at Bethel will find you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three round loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine.

• 1 Samuel 13:2

  Saul chose for himself three thousand from Israel; two thousand were with Saul at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah of Benjamin; and the rest of the people he sent away, each to his tents.

• 1 Samuel 30:27

  to those in Bethel, to those in Ramoth of the Negeb, to those in Jattir,

• 1 Kings 12:29

  He set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.

• 1 Kings 12:32

  Jeroboam held a festival in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival that was in Judah, and he went up to the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made; and he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.

• 1 Kings 12:33

  He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his heart; and he held a festival for the sons of Israel, and went up to the altar to offer up in smoke.

• 1 Kings 13:1

  And there, a man of Elohim came from Judah by the word of YHWH to Bethel, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to offer up in smoke.

• 1 Kings 13:4

  And it happened when the king heard the word of the man of Elohim, which he had cried out against the altar in Bethel, that Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” But his hand dried up, which he had stretched out against him, and he could not draw it back to himself.

• 1 Kings 13:10

  So he went by another way and did not return by the way that he had come by it to Bethel.

• 1 Kings 13:11

  Now an old prophet lived in Bethel; and his son came and told him all the deeds that the man of Elohim had done that day in Bethel; the words that he had spoken to the king, they told them to their father.

And 104 more times.