Beth (house) is often found as the first element of proper names of places in the Bible. It is only necessary to observe that, in all such compounds, as Bethel, etc., the latter part of the word must be considered, according to our Occidental languages, to depend on the former in the relation of the genitive; so that Bethel can only mean house of God.' The notion of house is, of course, capable of a wide application, and is used to mean temple, habitation, place, according to the sense of the word with which it is combined.