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BESTUD'. Be and stud. Ang.-Sax. studu: A post,; a pillar; any thing fixed; from stæd, stud, the past participle of the verb to stand. Ency. Met. To bestud, is to fix any thing like gems in a crown, or stars in the firmament, that keep their places.

And when the golden glorious sun goes down, Would she put on her star-bestudded crown. Drayton. The sea o'er fraught would swell, and the' unsought

diamonds

Would so imblaze the forehead of the deep,
And so bestud with stars, that they below
Would grow inured to light, and come at last
To gaze upon the sun with shameless brows.

Milton's Comus.

BESWAD'DLED. Be and swaddle. See SWADDLE. To swathe, to fasten, to bind toge

ther.

Hence cradles see, with lisping statesmen spawn! And infant limbs beswaddled in the lawn. Whitehead. BESWYN'KLE. Ang.-Sax. To labor. Hence Chaucer calls a laborer, swinker. BET, v. & n. Sax. peddian, to wager; ped, BETTING, a wager; from which the etyBET'TOR. Smologists derive bet. I should rather imagine it to come from beran, to mend, increase, or bet, as a bet increases the original wager. A wager; something laid to be won upon certain conditions. Betan is to better, to support, says the Ency. Met.; and hence concludes, that to bet is to support an opinion by risking any thing upon it.

He drew a good bow and dead? John of Gaunt loved him well, and betted much upon his head. Shakspeare.

He flies the court for want of clothes;
Cries out 'gainst cocking, since he cannot bet.
Ben Jonson.

The god unhappily engaged,
Complained, and sighed, and cried, and fretted,
Lost every earthly thing he betted.

The hoary fool, who many days
Has struggled with continued sorrow,
Renews his hope, and blindly lays
The desperate bet upon to-morrow.

Prior.

His pride was in piquette,
Newmarket fame and judgment at a bet. Pope.
The gamester too, whose wits all high or low,
Oft risks his fortune on one desperate throw,
Comes here to saunter, having made his bets,
Finds his lost senses out and pays his debts.

Goldsmith.

BETA, Bɛra, the second letter in the Greek alphabet, answering to our B; also used by the Greeks as a numeral for two.

leaves and roots; the leaves are either used as
spinach or given to cattle; and the roots are
either given to cattle, used in distillation, or for
extracting sugar. The culture of the field-beet
in Britain is very recent, and it may be ques-
tioned whether it has any advantages over the
turnip for general agricultural purposes. It ad-
mits, however, of being cultivated on ridgelets,
and with as little manual labor as the turnip,
while it will prosper on a stronger soil, and near
large towns it is not liable to the depredations
usually committed on turnips or carrots, as the
root is unpalatable either raw or boiled. The
variety preferred in Germany is one slightly
tinged with red for cattle, and the pale-yellow
variety for the distillery and sugar manufacture.
It is also called the field-beet, and is in England,
particularly near London, applied to the fat-
tening of stock, and the feeding of milch cows.
Their milk is said to be much improved and
increased by it. 2. B. hortensis, the common
white beet, is cultivated in gardens for the sake
of its leaves, which are frequently used in soups.
The root seldom grows larger than a man's
thumb. 3. B. maritima, the sea beet, grows
naturally by the sea side, and in salt marshes, in
many parts of England. It has been supposed
by many to be only a variety of the common
white beet;
but Mr. Miller assures us he has been
unable to make any variation in them by culture.
The Hortus Kewensis distinguishes a species
of this name by its having its flowers in pairs.
4. B. vulgaris, the red beet, with a pyramidal
root, has large, thick, succulent leaves, which are
for the most part of a dark green or purple color.
The roots are large, and of a deep red. The
larger these roots grow the tenderer they are,
and the deeper their color the more they are
esteemed. The varieties of this species are the
common red beet, the turnip-rooted beet, and
the green-leaved red beet.

The common white beet is sown by itself, in the beginning of March, upon an open spot of Id. ground, not too moist. When the plants have put out four leaves, the ground should be hoed as for carrots, carefully cutting up the weeds, and also the plants where too near each other, leaving them at least six inches asunder. In three or four weeks, the ground should be hoed a second time, to cut up the weeds and thin the plants, for by this time they will be out of danger; so should not be left nearer than eight or nine inches, if regard is had to the goodness of the leaves; and if it be of the Swiss kind, with broad leaves, the plants must not be nearer than a foot. In six weeks after, the ground should be hoed over a third time, to destroy weeds. After this the plants will spread and prevent the weeds from growing, and the leaves will soon be fit for use. The outer large leaves should be first gathered, leaving the small inner ones to grow large; by which method a small spot of ground will supply a moderate family for a whole year, provided the plants are not allowed to run to seed, for in that case they will not be good. The red beet is frequently sown with onions, carrots, or parsnips; but if these are not to be soon removed, the beets ought to be sown by themselves. They require a deep light soil;

BETA, in botany, the beet; a genus of the digynia order, and pentandria class of plants; ranking in the natural method under the twelfth order, holoraceæ: CAL. four leaves; there is no corolla; the seeds are kidney-shaped, and situated within the base of the calyx. There are four species, viz. 1. B. cicla, the root of scarcity, has been much recommended to agriculturists of late years. Mr. Loudon (Practice of Agriculture, l. iii. p. 798,) says, 'it is supposed by Professor Thaer to be a mongrel between the red and white beet. It has a much larger bulb than either, and that bulb, in some varieties, grows in great part above ground. It has been a good deal cultivated in Germany and Switzerland, both for its

the seeds should be sown in March, and must be treated in the same manner as the former sort; but the plants should not be left nearer than a foot, or in good land a foot and a half; for the leaves will cover the ground at that distance. The roots will be fit for use in autumn, and continue good all winter; but in the spring, when they begin to shoot, they will be hard and stringy.

The juice expressed from the roots is a powerful errhine. The root of the red beet is sometimes used to improve the color of claret. By some it is recommended to cultivate the white beet in large quantities as food for cattle. Margraff, the Prusian chemist, first procured sugar from the root of the white beet in 1747. At the commencement of the present century the chemists of France bestowed great attention upon this subject. For a description of the mode of preparing the sugar, see Huet de la Croix, Notice sur la Betterave, considérée principalement sous le rapport des bénéfices que sa culture doit procurer au cultivateur, 8vo. Paris, 1812.

BETAG. Be and tag. To tack or tag; to knit, bind, connect.

The last grave fop of the last age,
In a superb and feathered hearse,
Bescutcheoned and betagged with verse.

Churchill. BETAH, or TIBHATH, a city of Syria, which David took from Hadadezer. 2 Sam. viii. 8. BETAIL'ED. Be and tail. See TAIL. BETAKE'. Be and take. See TAKE. To give, to recommend, to take to, commit to, deliver to, resort or recur to.

I trust in Goddes bountie; and therefore My marriage, and min estat, and rest,

the East; composed of the nut of the areca catechu, in the proportion of one-half, onequarter of quick lime, and one-quarter of the leaves of the piper betle and tobacco. The lime used with the nut is called chunam, and is obtained from the calcination of shells, as producing the finest kind; it is employed either boiled or The latter has undergone no change; the former is cut in slices, boiled with a small quantity of terra japonica, and then dried.

raw.

The immediate consequences of eating this compound are reddening the saliva, and giving a bright hue to the lips; in progress of time, the teeth are rendered quite black by it; if the chunam be omitted, the saliva will not be tinged; and its pernicious operation on the enamel of the teeth may be averted, by rubbing them with a preparation that coats them with a black substance, which does not yield to any dentrifice, and preserves them from corrosion. The effects which recommend it are the dispelling of nausea, exciting an appetite, and strengthening the stomach. It also possesses nutritious and enlivening qualities, which render it particularly acceptable.

As an article of luxury betel has given rise to various ceremonial usages in the East. Persons of the more polished classes, after the first salutation, present it as a token of politeness: to omit it would be considered neglect, and its rejection would be an affront. No one of inferior rank should address a dignified individual without the previous chewing of betel; two people seldom meet without exchanging it; and it is always offered on occasion of ceremonious interviews.

The box containing it is of silver or gold, and of elegant workmanship. In some countries it is not uncommon for the guest who receives the Chaucer. Canterbury Tales, betel from his host to pass it between his thumb

I him betake, he may don as him lest.

But Absolon! that saith full oft; Alas!
My soul betake I unto Sathanas,

But me were lever than all this town (quod he),
Of this despit awroken for to be.

Then to his hands that writ he did betake,
Which he disclosing read.

Id.

Spenser. The adverse party betaking itself to such practices as men embrace, when they behold things brought to desperate extremities. Hooker.

Thou tyrant!

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and fore-finger, and apply his own chunam, which never gives offence. Philtres and charms are often conveyed with the chunam. The Mahommedans abstain from it as an indulgence during the Ramadan, and females of the higher ranks are said to pass their lives in doing little else than chewing it. When the Cingalese retire to rest at night they fill their mouths with it, and retain it there until they awake. The poor keep it in straw purses, lodged in some fold of their dress. Betel is a considerable article of traffic in India, China, and indeed throughout Asia. In the British settlements of Bombay, Madras, and Bengal, the value of it, as an import, recently amounted in a single year to £138,836. BETELGUELË, or BEDELGAEZE, a fixed star, of the first magnitude, in Orion's hind shoulder.

BETEN, in ancient geography, a town in the tribe of Ashur.

BETEEM'. From Ang.-Sax. tæmian. To pour forth; to produce; to give; to grant; to bestow.

So would I, said the' enchanter, glad and fain
Beteem to you his sword, you to defend;
But that this weapon's power I well have kenned
To be contrary to the work that ye intend.

Faerie Queene.

Rain, which I could well
Beteem them from the tempest of mine eyes.
Shakspeare.

Although he could have well beteemed to have thanked him of the ease he proffered, yet loving his own handy-work, modestly refused him. Milton. Animad. BETH, the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, answering to our B, and used also by the Jews as a numeral for two. Beth, in literary history, makes the title of a multitude of books in the Hebrew language; e. gr. Beth Avoth, or the house of the fathers; Beth Elohim, or the house of God; Beth Israel, or the house of Israel, &c.

BETHABARA,in ancient geography, the house of passage; a term therefore by many referred to the passage at Jericho, where the Israelites passed over dry-shod; by Lightfoot, to the passage at Scythopolis: but Cellarius refers it to the mid-way between both, because there were doubtless several passages or fords on the Jordan. Here John is said to have baptised on the other side Jordan, John i. 28.

BETHABARA, a town of North Carolina, on the west side of Grassy Creek, which unites with the Gargales, and several others, and falls into the Yadkin. This town was settled in the year 1753 by the Moravian brethren, who emigrated from Pennsylvania. It is seven miles northwest of Salem, and 183 west of Halifax.

BETHAGLIA, or BETH-HOGLAH, a town of the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua xviii. 21). In Jerome's time there was a village called Agla, ten miles from Eleutheropolis, towards Gaza, and supposed to be Bethaglia.

BETHANIA, a post-town of North Carolina, four miles north-west of Bethabara. It is regularly laid out, and was settled about the year 1759, by Moravians from Pennsylvania. It is

ten miles north-west of Salem.

BETHANIA, or BETHANY, a village and tract of land, at the foot of mount Olivet, on the west side, about two miles east of Jerusalem, where Lazarus dwelt and was raised from the dead; and where the ascension of our Saviour happened. The Turks still pretend to show Lazarus's house and grave. They also show the house of Mary Magdalen, at a little distance. Dr. Richardson was shown them both, as he was told, in 1818. The name of Bethany was sometimes extended to the whole tract of ground from the village itself to Bethpage (John xxiv. 50, Acts i, 12.), a circumstance which ought to be borne in mind, in order to prevent an apparent contradiction between the account of the resurrection given by St. Luke in his Gospel, and that afterwards given in the Acts of the Apostles. The Bethany mentioned in the Gospel, is the district including the part of the Mount of Olives mentioned in the Acts.

BETHARA, a place south of the Galilean Sea; upon the borders of Ephraim, where the Midianites, pursued by Gideon, crossed the Jor

dan.

BETHARAN, in ancient geography, a town of Paræa, on the other side Jordan, said to have been called Livias or Libias, in the Greek manner, by Herod, in honor of Livia; and of the same latitude almost with Jerusalem; called also Julias by Josephus, who always calls the Livia of Augustus Lia.

BETHAVEN, in ancient geography, a town in the tribe of Ephraim, south-east of Bethel (Josh. vii. 2). It is also a name given to Bethel by Hosea, after the establishment of the idolatry of Jeroboam there; meaning it to have become the house of iniquity, from being the house of God.

BETHBARA, a place in the land of Galilee, where Gideon called the Ephraimites to stop the flying Midianites (Judg. vii. 24), supposed to be the same with Bethara.

BETHCAR, a city of the Danites, to which the Israelites under Samuel pursued the Philistines. 1 Sam. vii. 11.

BETH-DAGON, a city of Palestine, on the borders of the land of Israel.

BETHEL, a city of Samaria, on the borders of the tribe of Benjamin, anciently called Luz; but they seem to be distinguished (Joshua xvi. 2). They were, however, contiguous places. Bethel was properly the place of Jacob's vision, and Luz, or Lus, an adjoining town, afterwards called Bethel. It was twelve miles north-east of Jerusalem. Dr. Clarke remarks, that the nature of the soil is still an existing comment upon the record of the stony territory, where he took of the stones of the place, and put them for his pillow.

BETHER, or BITHER, a city of Palestine, which some place near Jerusalem, and others near Cæsarea and mount Carmel. About A. D. 130 it sustained a terrible siege, when the blood, which ran down the river, is said to have colored the waters of the sea to some distance.

BETHESDA, (called in the Greek, Koλvμßnopa Пpoßarin, and thence in the Vulgate, Piscina Probatica, because, according to some, the sheep were washed in it, which were appointed for sacrifices,) was the Hebrew name for a pool or public bath, which had five porticoes, piazzas, or covered walks around it. It was called Bethesda, non', Beth Chezda, or the House of Mercy, because, as Pool, in his Annotations, observes, the erecting of public baths was an act of great kindness to the common people, particularly a bath with the virtues of the description this possessed. From the Greek word koλvμßnepa being used by Josephus (Antiq. xv. 3), to denote the baths of Jericho, Macknight, in his Harmony of the Gospels, concludes that their opinion is without proper foundation, who affirm, that this pool served for washing the sheep designed for sacrifice, before they were driven into the temple, and for washing the entrails of the beasts sacrificed there. Besides, he thinks it inconsistent with the situation of Bethesda, near the sheep-gate, or market, as our English translators have rendered the Greek επι τη προβατική Koλvμßŋ0ρa, though some copies have it, Ev rn, &c., in the south-east wall of the city. nature of the cures performed here, as recorded John v. 2, 3, &c., has been much controverted. Some writers confine the miracle to the season of the particular feast mentioned in verse 1, as they understand kara kaipov, by times, verse 4, which our translators render, a certain season, to mean at that season, since the evangelist does not say that the waters of Bethesda had their sanative quality at any other feast; and they instance the

The

silence of Philo and Josephus respecting this
miracle as confirming their interpretation. Mack-
night observes, that the silence of these writers is
worthy of little regard, as they have omitted
greater transactions which they had an opportu-
nity to know. It must here be observed, that the
fourth verse of this.chapter of St. John is not in
Beza's Cambridge MS. nor in one or two more
of some authorities. Griesbach has marked it
as doubtful, yet he leaves it in the text. But
though it should be rejected, the difficulty for
which some would have it cancelled, remains:
because the seventh verse implies, that cures
were performed in this pool, and that only one
at a time was cured; if so, it is as easy to con-
ceive that an angel moved the water, and gave it
its healing quality, as to fancy those cures were
performed miraculously in any other way. Grotius,
Lightfoot, and Doddridge, think that the angel is
said to have descended, not because he was ever
seen to do so, but because the Jews were per-
suaded that God brought such things to pass by
the ministration of angels; so that from that vio-
lent motion of the water, and the cure following
it, the presence of an angel was inferred. Dr.
Hammond
that the waters became

supposes,

medicinal by being impregnated with a healing

warmth from the blood and entrails of the sacrificed beasts that were washed there. Whitby asks, how this healing virtue, if natural, could be applied to the cure of all diseases? how one only could be cured when many, probably, entered at the same moment? and why, since numerous victims were slain at other feasts, should the case occur only at the passover? Lightfoot, also, shows, that the entrails were washed in a laver in the temple, and not in this pool.

Doddridge believes the waters to have been partly mineral and medicinal, to have been used for general bathing, and to have been endued with a miraculous power not long before the ministry of Christ. He, also, holds, that the virtue ceased either immediately after the miracle, or at the death of Christ; and that this accounts for the silence of Josephus. Maundrell, who visited the Holy Land in 1696, describes a Bethesda, which our modern travellers, Dr. Clarke and Dr. Richardson, do not mention. Maundrell says, it was 140 paces in length, forty in breadth and eight in depth; dry, and having at its western end three blind arches, which he supposes were remains of the five porches; but how did these survive the destruction of Jerusalem? BETH-GAMUL, a city of the tribe of Reuben, which was taken by the Moabites, and afterwards pillaged by the Chaldeans.

BETH-HACCEREM, a city, seated on a hill, between Jerusalem and Tekoah, and noted for its vineyards,

BETH-HOGLAH, a city belonging to the Benjamites, about half way between Jericho and Jordan.

BETH-HORON, in ancient geography, two towns of Samaria; both in the tribe of Ephraim, built by Shera, grand-daughter of Ephraim, 1 Chron. viii. 24, and both restored by Solomon, after falling to decay. 1 Kings ix. 17, and 2 Chron viii. 5, viz.

1. BETH-HORON, NETHER, was situated on a

mountain, and therefore Josephus and Jerome mention going up or ascending. It stood on the public road to Lydda and Cæsarea, distant 100 stadia, or twelve miles, from Jerusalem. On account of this vicinity, some allot it to the tribe of Benjamin.

2. BETH-HORON, UPPER, was distant almost the whole breadth of the land of Ephraim, from the Nether Beth-Heron, the Upper being in the north and the Nether in the south of that tribe. Josh. xvi.

BETHINK. Be and think See THINK. To recal to reflection: to bring back to consideration, or recollection. It is generally used with the reciprocal pronoun, and of before the subject of thought.

They were sooner in danger than they could almost
bethink themselves of change.
Sidney.
Cease then my tongue, and lend unto my mind,
Leave to bethink how great that beautie is
Whose utmost parts so beautifull I fynd. Spenser.
I, better bethinking myself, and misliking his de-
termination, gave him this order.
Raleigh.
He himself,

Insatiable of glory, had lost all :

Yet of another plea bethought him soon. Milton. The nets were laid, yet the birds could never be

think

themselves, till hampered and past recovery.

L'Estrange.

Ah bethink how through thy regions
Midnight horror fearful howled,
When like wolves the Danish legions
Through thy trembling forests prowled.
Mickle. Ballad.

Borne in his arms from yon Serai
Say wert thou lingering there with him to fly?
Thou needest not answer-thy confession speaks,
Already reddening on thy guilty cheeks;
Then lovely dame bethink thee! and beware.

Byron. Corsair.
BETH-JESIMOTH, a city of the Reubenites,
about ten miles east of the Jordan.
It was
taken by the Moabites, and afterwards destroyed
by the Chaldeans.

BETHLEHEM, Onbn'a i. e. the house of bread; called also Bethlehem Ephratah, a town of Palestine, in the tribe of Judah, the birthplace of David and of our Saviour. It was once much more flourishing than at present, and stands on an eminence, six miles south-east of Jerusalem, in a country full of hills and valleys.

Mr. Parsons visited it in 1821, and says, passing from Bethany through the beautiful plain, called the valley of Rephaim, Bethle hem, at this distance, assumes an appearance of splendor far beyond what it actually possesses, The monastery erected over the manger, stands a little east of the village. Still further eastward, we saw the valley where the shepherds heard the angels sing, at the birth of the Saviour."' Here is a convent, containing three religious houses devoted to the Greeks, Franks, and Armenians, and described as a massy, heavylooking structure, more like a fortification. A grotto, said to contain the manger in which our Lord lay, has an altar, a fine picture, and numerous silver and crystal lamps; ten monks constituted the whole society here a few years since, most of whom were Spaniards. The population of Bethlehem is said by Mr. Parsons to

consist of about 1500 Catholics, 1000 Greeks, a few Armenians, and a few Turks. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in making wooden crucifixes and crowns, which are set in motherof-pearl, and exported into different parts of Europe and Asia. But its chief ornament is the stately church, erected by the empress Helena, over the place where the Saviour was born, and bearing her name. It is built in the form of a cross, and the top of it commands a fine view of the surrounding country. The roof is of cedar, covered with lead, and supported by four rows of lofty pillars, ten in a row, and each formed of one entire piece of white marble. The walls were overlaid with the same beautiful stone, but it is said that the Turks have carried it away to adorn their mosques. The upper ends of the cross terminate in three semicircles, in each of which there is an altar. Over the chancel is a large cupola, of which the outside is covered with lead, and the inside adorned with beautiful mosaic workmanship. There are also shown the tomb of Rachael, the wells for the water of which David longed, the fountains of Solomon, the cave in which David cut off the skirt from the robe of Saul, &c. &c. Perhaps these traditional vestiges of our religion, whether in each particular true or false, have kept alive the remembrance of its leading events in ages, and amongst modern tribes, that have had no access to superior evidence. Dr. Clarke was particularly struck, throughout his travels in Judea, with the singular coincidence between its general present appearance and the descriptions of the Bible. BETHLEHEM, a town in the land of Zebulon. Josh. xix. 5.

BETHLEHEM, a post and borough town of the United States, in Pennsylvania; pleasantly situated in Northampton county, on the north side of Leheigh river, over which is a large wooden bridge. It is partly built upon an eminence, and partly on the bank of Manakisy Creek, which runs into the Leheigh on the west side of the town. The town is laid out in regular streets, and built chiefly of limestone. The town contains a population of about 1500 individuals, who are all Moravians. Two schools here, one for boys, and another for girls, are in high repute. Besides the common dwelling-houses, it contains a large church, and extensive buildings, appropriated to the different classes of the society; as the unmarried men, the young women, and the widows. Various manufactures are carried on, and the strictest discipline is attended to. Dr. Franklin visited this settlement, soon after its establishment, and was much pleased with their peaceable manners, their social, disinterested habits, and their orderly worship. He enquired into their alleged use of the lot in marriage; and was told it was by no means general; but that the elders of the community, being generally consulted by the young persons of each sex, rave them that advice as to proper objects, which was generally followed. But if it occurred that two or more young women were thought equally proper for a young man,' he tells us, the lot was appealed to and the decision final,' When Franklin observed that such matches, not made by mutual choice, might end unhappily; so they

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might,' said the Moravians, if the parties were to choose for themselves.' It is twelve miles south-west of Easton, and fifty-three north by west of Philadelphia. Long. 0° 14′ W. lat. 40° 37′ N. BETHLEHEM, a town of the United States, with a post office, in Lichfield county, Connecticut, on the head of Southbury river, which runs into the Housatonick. It is about eight miles south of Lichfield, and 196 from Philadelphia.

BETHLEHEM-EPHRATAH. See BETHLEHEM. Bethlehemites, or BETHLEMITES, in church history, were monks introduced into England, A. D. 1257, habited like the Dominicans, except that, on their breast, they wore a star with five rays, in memory of the star or comet which appeared over Bethlehem at the nativity of our Saviour. They were celled at Cambridge, and had only one house in England. Also an order of religious in Peru, who came originally from Guatimala in Mexico, where they were instituted by the venerable Peter Joseph of Betaneur, for the service of the poor. Innocent XI. in 1687, approved the institute.

BETHLEN, a walled market town of Transylvania in what is called the inner county of Szolnok. It stands on the river Tzamos, and has a castle.

BETH-PEOR, a town of the Reubenites, on the other side Jordan, at mount Fogor, over against Jericho, six miles above Livias. It had a temple sacred to the idol Baal-Peor, Numb. xxv. 5, called Bel-Phegor by the Vulgate, and interpreted Priapus by Jerome.

BETHPHAGE, a place at the west declivity of mount Olivet, Matt. xxi. 1, from which it is supposed that the whole of that declivity, with a part of the valley, and the extreme skirts of the city, went under the common name of Bethphage.

BETHRAL'.

From thrall. To enslave; to conquer; to bring into subjection. See THRALL. Ne let that wicked woman 'scape away, For she it is that did my lord bethral.

Shakspeare.

BETHSAIDA, the house of hunting or fishing, a town near the desert of the same name in Galilee, on the western shore of the lake Gennesareth. It was the city in which St. Andrew and St. Peter followed their fishing trade; as also the native place of St. Philip. The unbelief of its inhabitants drew down from our Saviour a bitter denunciation. Matt xi. 21.

BETHSAN, BETHSHAN, OF BETHSHEAN, a town of Samaria, in the half tribe of Manasseh, on the borders of Galilee, about half a league from the Jordan, having half of its territory in the Peræa. It was afterwards called Scythopolis; and was distant from Tiberias, on the lake Gennesareth, 120 stadia, or fifteen miles to the south; and from Jerusalem to the north 600 stadia, or seventy-five miles. Josephus says, it was the greatest city of all the Decapolis. It is called Baeson by Stephanus.

BETH-SHEMESH, a city of Judah, which belonged to the priests: memorable for the return of the ark to it, by the Philistines, as well as for the severe punishment of the inhabitants

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