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Bethsaida

Original Hebrew / Aramaic / Greek connected to this term

How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.

GREEK · G966

Βηθσαϊδά

Bēthsaida — Bethsaida

Βηθσαιδά (Rec. -σαϊδά), and -δάν (Mt, Mk, ll. with), ἡ, indecl. (Syr., house of fish), Bethsaida, a town on NE. shore of the Sea of Galilee: Luk.9:10. It is generally supposed that a second B. on the W. shore is referred to in Mat.11:21, Mrk.6:45 8:22, Luk.10:13, Jhn.1:45 12:21 (DB, i, 282f.; but see Swete on Mrk.6:45). 2. 2. Βηθζαθά, ἡ, indecl. (perh. Aram. בֵּית זַיְתָה, house of olives) Jhn.5:2..† (AS)

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Historical dictionary entry

House of fish. (1.) A town in Galilee, on the west side of the sea of Tiberias, in the “land of Gennesaret.” It was the native place of Peter, Andrew, and Philip, and was frequently resorted to by Jesus (Mark 6:45; John 1:44; 12:21). It is supposed to have been at the modern ‘Ain Tabighah, a bay to the north of Gennesaret. (2.) A city near which Christ fed 5,000 (Luke 9:10; comp. John 6:17; Matt. 14:15-21), and where the blind man had his sight restored (Mark 8:22), on the east side of the lake, two miles up the Jordan. It stood within the region of Gaulonitis, and was enlarged by Philip the tetrarch, who called it “Julias,” after the emperor’s daughter. Or, as some have supposed, there may have been but one Bethsaida built on both sides of the lake, near where the Jordan enters it. Now the ruins et-Tel.

Scripture references

Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.

Compare other reference traditions

Look up Bethsaida in Smith’s Bible Dictionary and ISBE →