Study Desk

So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

Now as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died along the way in the land of Canaan, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath" (that is, Bethlehem).

It also included Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem. There were twelve cities, along with their villages.

After Jephthah, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.

Then Ibzan died, and he was buried in Bethlehem.

And there was a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who had been residing within the clan of Judah.

This man left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to settle where he could find a place. And as he traveled, he came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim.

"Where are you from?" Micah asked him. "I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah," he replied, "and I am on my way to settle wherever I can find a place."

In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite who lived in the remote hill country of Ephraim took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.

But she was unfaithful to him and left him to return to her father's house in Bethlehem in Judah. After she had been there four months,

The Levite replied, "We are traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote hill country of Ephraim, where I am from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and now I am going to the house of the LORD; but no one has taken me into his home,

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man from Bethlehem in Judah, with his wife and two sons, went to reside in the land of Moab.

The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, and they entered the land of Moab and settled there.

So Naomi and Ruth traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole city was stirred because of them, and the women of the city exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?"

So Naomi returned from the land of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. And they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and said to the harvesters, "The LORD be with you." "The LORD bless you," they replied.

"We are witnesses," said the elders and all the people at the gate. "May the LORD make the woman entering your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you be prosperous in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem.

Now the LORD said to Samuel, "How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have selected from his sons a king for Myself."

So Samuel did what the LORD had said and went to Bethlehem. When the elders of the town met him, they trembled and asked, "Do you come in peace?"

One of the servants answered, "I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a mighty man of valor, a warrior, eloquent and handsome, and the LORD is with him."