Bethlehem

And so Rachel died, and she was buried in the way that leads to Ephrath: this place is Bethlehem.

As for me, when I came from Mesopotamia, Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the very journey, and it was springtime. And I entered Ephrath and buried her next to the way of Ephrath, which by another name is called Bethlehem.”

Also, there was another young man, from Bethlehem of Judah, one of his relatives. And he himself was a Levite, and he was living there.

Then, departing from the city of Bethlehem, he wished to sojourn wherever he would find it beneficial to himself. And when he had arrived at mount Ephraim, while making the journey, he also turned aside for a little while to the house of Micah.

And he was asked by him where he came from. And he responded: “I am a Levite from Bethlehem of Judah. And I am traveling so that I may live where I am able, if I perceive it to be useful to me.”

There was a certain man, a Levite, living beside mount Ephraim, who took a wife from Bethlehem of Judah.

She left him, and she returned to the house of her father in Bethlehem. And she stayed with him for four months.

And her husband followed her, wishing to be reconciled with her, and to speak kindly to her, and to lead her back with him. And he had with him a servant and two donkeys. And she received him, and brought him into the house of her father. And when his father-in-law had heard about this, and had seen him, he met him with joy.

He answered him: “We set out from Bethlehem of Judah, and we are traveling to our own place, which is beside mount Ephraim. From there we went to Bethlehem, and now we go to the house of God. But no one is willing to receive us under his roof.

In the days of one of the judges, when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a man from Bethlehem in Judah departed to sojourn in the region of the Moabites with his wife and two children.

He called himself Elimelech, and his wife Naomi, and his two sons, the one Mahlon, and the other Chilion, Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. And entering into the region of the Moabites, they stayed there.

And so they set out together, and they came to Bethlehem. When they had entered the city, the news quickly spread among them all. And the women said, “This is that Naomi.”

Therefore, Naomi went with Ruth, the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, from the land of her sojourn, and returned to Bethlehem, at the time of the first reaping of the barley.

But there was a man related to Elimelech, a powerful man, and very wealthy, named Boaz.

And behold, he came out of Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you.” They answered him, “May the Lord bless you.”

All the people who were at the gate, along with the eldest, answered, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make this woman, who enters into your house, like Rachel, and Leah, who built up the house of Israel, so that she may be an example of virtue in Ephrathah, and so that her name may be honored in Bethlehem.

And the Lord said to Samuel: “How long will you mourn for Saul, though I have rejected him, so that he would not reign over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and approach, so that I may send you to Jesse of Bethlehem. For I have provided a king from among his sons for myself.”

Therefore, Samuel did just as the Lord told him. And he went to Bethlehem, and the elders of the city wondered. And meeting him, they said, “Is your arrival peaceful?”

And one of the servants, responding, said: “Behold, I have seen the son of Jesse of Bethlehem, a skillful player, and very strong and robust, a man fit for war, and prudent in words, a handsome man. And the Lord is with him.”

Now David was the son of an Ephrathite man, the one mentioned above, from Bethlehem of Judah, whose name was Jesse. He had eight sons, and during the days of Saul, he was an elderly man, and of great age among men.

David went away from Saul, and he returned, so that he might pasture the flock of his father at Bethlehem.

And Saul said to him, “Young man, from what ancestry are you?” And David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”

If your father, looking around, will seek me, you shall respond to him: ‘David asked me if he may hurry to Bethlehem, his own city. For there are solemn sacrifices in that place for all of his tribe together.’

And Jonathan responded to Saul, “He petitioned me earnestly that he might go to Bethlehem,

And they took Asahel, and they buried him in the sepulcher of his father at Bethlehem. And Joab, and the men who were with him, walked throughout the night, and they arrived in Hebron at the very break of day.

Then there was a third war in Gob against the Philistines, in which Adeodatus, a son of the forest, a weaver from Bethlehem, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like the beam used by a cloth maker.

And David was in a stronghold. Moreover, there was a garrison of the Philistines at that time in Bethlehem.

Then David desired, and he said, “If only someone would give me a drink of the water from the cistern, which is in Bethlehem beside the gate!”

Therefore, the three valiant men burst into the encampment of the Philistines, and they drew water from the cistern of Bethlehem, which was beside the gate. And they brought it to David. Yet he was not willing to drink; instead, he poured it out to the Lord,

Among the thirty were: Asahel, the brother of Joab, Elhanan, the son of his paternal uncle, from Bethlehem,

Salma, the father of Bethlehem; Hareph, the father of Bethgader.

The sons of Salma: Bethlehem, and the Netophathites, the crowns of the house of Joab, and half the places of rest of the Zorathites,

Now Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer was the father of Hushah. These are the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephratha, the father of Bethlehem.

Now David was in a stronghold, and a garrison of the Philistines was in Bethlehem.

And then David desired and said, “O if only someone would give me water from the well of Bethlehem, which is at the gate!”

Therefore, these three broke through to the midst of the camp of the Philistines, and they drew water from the well of Bethlehem, which was at the gate. And they took it to David, so that he might drink. But he was not willing; and instead, he offered it as a libation to the Lord,

Moreover, the strongest men of the army were Asahel, the brother of Joab; and Elhanan, the son of his uncle, from Bethlehem;

And he built up Bethlehem, and Etam, and Tekoa,

The sons of Bethlehem, one hundred twenty-three.

The sons of Bethlehem and Netophah, one hundred eighty-eight.

And they went away and settled as sojourners at Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, so that they might continue on and enter into Egypt,

And you, Bethlehem Ephrata, are a little one among the thousands of Judah. From you will go forth he who shall be the ruler in Israel, and his landing place has been set from the beginning, from the days of eternity.

And so, when Jesus had been born in Bethlehem of Judah, in the days of king Herod, behold, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem,

And they said to him: “In Bethlehem of Judea. For so it has been written by the prophet:

‘And you, Bethlehem, the land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah. For from you shall go forth the ruler who shall guide my people Israel.’ ”

And sending them into Bethlehem, he said: “Go and diligently ask questions about the boy. And when you have found him, report back to me, so that I, too, may come and adore him.”

And when they had heard the king, they went away. And behold, the star that they had seen in the east went before them, even until, arriving, it stood still above the place where the child was.

Then Herod, seeing that he had been fooled by the Magi, was very angry. And so he sent to kill all the boys who were in Bethlehem, and in all its borders, from two years of age and under, according to the time that he had learned by questioning the Magi.

Then Joseph also ascended from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David,

For today a Savior has been born for you in the city of David: he is Christ the Lord.

And it happened that, when the Angels had departed from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us cross over to Bethlehem and see this word, which has happened, which the Lord has revealed to us.”

Does Scripture not say that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and from Bethlehem, the town where David was?”