Beth'-anath (Heb. Beyth-Anath', r:"T"2, house ! of response ; Sept. Bifiavaiy v. r. Bai^Ba/je and BaiSta- va\), one of the "fenced cities" of Xaphtali, named with Bethshemesh (Josh, xix, 38) ; from neither of which were the Canaanites expelled, although made tributaries (Judg. i, S3). It is mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast. s. v. BaOpd, Bethnath), who, however, elsewhere (s. v. BqSavaSra, Bethana) speak of a village (apparently in Asher, ib. s. v. 'Aveip, Aniel) called Bttuniru (Baravaia, Bathanroa; Bairoavaia, Betoanea), fifteen miles eastward of Cassarea (Diocas- sarea or Sepphoris), and reputed to contain medicinal springs. It is perhaps the present village A inata, north of Bint-Jebeil (Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 293). Schwarz {Palest, p. 184) confounds it with the site of Beten.
Beth'-anoth (Heb. Beyih-Anoth' , ni"5?-ni2, house ' of ansicers, i. e. echo; Sept. Br]&av<i)S v. r. BaiSava/.i), a city in the mountain district of Judah, mentioned be- tween Maarath and Eltekon (Josh, xv, 59). It has i been identified by Wolcott (Bibl. Sacra, 1843, p. 58) with the present village Beit-Anun, first observed by Robinson (Researches, ii, 186), about one and a half hours north-east of Hebron, on the way to Tekoa (Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 293), containing extensive ruins of high antiquity (Wilson, Lands of Bible, i, 384 sq.), which are described by Robinson (Later Bib. Res. p. 281). Compare Betane.
Beth/any (Btftavia ; according to Simonis, Onom. N. T. p. 42, for the Heb. rlJ3S m2, house of depres- sion ; but, according to Lightfoot, Reland, and others, for the Aramaean "^"i"! FP3, house of dates; comp. the Talmudic N^PiX, an unripe date, Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. col. 38), the name of two places.
BETHANY
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BETIIARAMPTHA
1. Instead of Bethabara (BijSafiapd), in John, i, 28 (where the text was altered since Origen's time ; see Crome. Beitr. i, 91 sq.), the reading in the oldest and b -t MSS. I also in Nonnius's Paraphr. in loc.) is Beth- any, H'/ -<»■'•' (see De Dieu, Crit. Sacr. p. 491), which appears to have been the name of a place east of Jor- dan (against the interpretation of Kuinol, Comment, in loc.. that Titpav signifies on this side; see Liicke, in Krit. Journ. iii, 383 ; Crome, Beitr. i, 82 sq. ; while the punctuation of Paulus, Samml. i, 287, who places a pe- riod after iykvfro, Comment, iv, 129, is not favored by the context'). Possin (Spicil. Evanrj. p. 32) supposes that the place went by both names (regarding "Beth- abarah" — rn2"_ n^a, domus transitu!, ferry-house ; and "Bethany" = tt*3X, domus navis, boat-house'). See Bethabara. The spot is quite as likely to have been not far above the present "'pilgrims' bathing-place" as any other, although the Greek and Roman traditions differ as to the exact locality of Christ's baptism (Rob- inson, Researches, ii, 2G1). The place here designated is apparently the same as the Beth-darah (q. v.) of Judg. vii, 24, or possiblv the same as Beth-nimrah (q.v.).
2. A town or village in the eastern environs of Je- rusalem, so called probably from the number of palm- trees that grew around, and intimately associated with many acts and scenes of the life of Christ. It- was the residence of Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha, and Jesus often went out from Jerusalem to lodge there; it was here that he raised Lazarus from the dead; from Bethany he commenced his "triumphal entry"' into Jerusalem; here, at the house of Simon the leper, the supper was given in his honor ; and it was in this vicinity that the ascension took place (.Matt, xxi, 17; xxvi, 6; Mark xi, 11, 12; xiv, 3; Luke xxiv, oil; John xi, 1; xii, 1). It was situated '•at" (irpoc) the Mount of Olives (Mark xi, 1; Luke xix, 29), about fifteen stadia from Jerusalem (John xi, 18), on or near the usual road from Jericho to the city (Luke xix, 29, comp. 1 ; Mark xi, 1, comp. x, 46), and close by and east (?) of another village called Beth- phage (q. v.). There never appears to have been any doubt as to the site of Bethany, which is now known by a name* derived from Lazarus — el- Azar'iyeh, or simply Lazarieh. It lies on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, fully a mile beyond the summit, and not very far from the point at which the road to Jeri- cho begins its more sudden descent toward the Jordan valley ( Lindsay, p. 91 ; De Saulcy, i, 120). The spot i- a woody hollow more or less planted with fruit-trees — olives, almonds, pomegranates, as well as oaks and carobs ; the whole lying below a secondary ridge or hump, of sufficient height to shut out the village from tie' summit of the mount (Robinson, ii, 100 sq. ; Stan- ley, p. 189 ; lionar, p. 138, 139). From a distance the village is "remarkably beautiful" — "the perfection of retirement and repose"— "of seclusion and lovely
Bonar, p. 139, 230, 310, 337 ; and see Lindsay, p. 69) ; but on a nearer view is found to be a ruinous and wretched village, a wild mountain hamlet of some twenty families, the inhabitants of which display even leas than tic ordinary Eastern thrift and industry (Robinson, ii, 102; Stanley, p. IS!); lionar, p. 810). In the village are shown the traditional sites of the house and tomb of Lazarus, the former the remains of