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Place · City

Beersheba

Also known as Shibah

Named in 32 verses across 11 books, first in Genesis 21:14.

In these stories

In the Bible

All 32 verses, in Bible order. Text from the Berean Standard Bible; verse numbers follow the KJV.

Genesis

  • Genesis 21:14

    Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.

  • Genesis 21:31

    So that place was called Beersheba, because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.

  • Genesis 21:32

    After they had made the covenant at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army got up and returned to the land of the Philistines.

  • Genesis 21:33

    And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.

  • Genesis 22:19

    Abraham went back to his servants, and they got up and set out together for Beersheba. And Abraham settled in Beersheba.

  • Genesis 26:23

    From there Isaac went up to Beersheba,

  • Genesis 26:33

    So he called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the city is Beersheba.

  • Genesis 28:10

    Meanwhile Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran.

  • Genesis 46:1

    So Israel set out with all that he had, and when he came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

  • Genesis 46:5

    Then Jacob departed from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel took their father Jacob in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him, along with their children and wives.

Joshua

Judges

  • Judges 20:1

    Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the LORD at Mizpah.

1 Samuel

  • 1 Samuel 3:20

    So all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the LORD.

  • 1 Samuel 8:2

    The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba.

2 Samuel

  • 2 Samuel 3:10

    to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and to establish the throne of David over Israel and Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.”

  • 2 Samuel 17:11

    Instead, I advise that all Israel from Dan to Beersheba—a multitude like the sand on the seashore—be gathered to you, and that you yourself lead them into battle.

  • 2 Samuel 24:2

    So the king said to Joab the commander of his army, who was with him, “Go now throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and register the troops, so that I may know their number.”

  • 2 Samuel 24:7

    They went toward the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went on to the Negev of Judah, to Beersheba.

  • 2 Samuel 24:15

    So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.

1 Kings

  • 1 Kings 4:25

    Throughout the days of Solomon, Judah and Israel dwelt securely from Dan to Beersheba, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree.

  • 1 Kings 19:3

    And Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,

2 Kings

  • 2 Kings 12:1

    In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba.

  • 2 Kings 23:8

    Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which was to the left of the city gate.

1 Chronicles

  • 1 Chronicles 4:28

    They lived in Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar-shual,

  • 1 Chronicles 21:2

    So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan and bring me a report, so that I may know their number.”

2 Chronicles

  • 2 Chronicles 19:4

    Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and once again he went out among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the LORD, the God of their fathers.

  • 2 Chronicles 24:1

    Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His mother’s name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba.

  • 2 Chronicles 30:5

    So they established a decree to circulate a proclamation throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come to keep the Passover of the LORD, the God of Israel, in Jerusalem. For they had not observed it as a nation as prescribed.

Nehemiah

  • Nehemiah 11:27

    in Hazar-shual; in Beersheba and its villages;

  • Nehemiah 11:30

    Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages; in Lachish and its fields; and in Azekah and its villages. So they settled from Beersheba all the way to the Valley of Hinnom.

Amos

  • Amos 5:5

    Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal; do not journey to Beersheba, for Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.

Dictionary

From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), as attached to this record by Theographic. Its geography and “modern” descriptions date from the 1890s. Easton wrote in 1897, and some of his views are now debated.

Read Easton’s entry

Well of the oath, or well of seven, a well dug by Abraham, and so named because he and Abimelech here entered into a compact (Gen. 21:31). On re-opening it, Isaac gave it the same name (Gen. 26:31-33). It was a favourite place of abode of both of these patriarchs (21:33-22:1, 19; 26:33; 28:10). It is mentioned among the “cities” given to the tribe of Simeon (Josh. 19:2; 1 Chr. 4:28). From Dan to Beersheba, a distance of about 144 miles (Judg. 20:1; 1 Chr. 21:2; 2 Sam. 24:2), became the usual way of designating the whole Promised Land, and passed into a proverb. After the return from the Captivity the phrase is narrowed into “from Beersheba unto the valley of Hinnom” (Neh. 11:30). The kingdom of the ten tribes extended from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim (2 Chr. 19:4). The name is not found in the New Testament. It is still called by the Arabs Bir es-Seba, i.e., “well of the seven”, where there are to the present day two principal wells and five smaller ones. It is nearly midway between the southern end of the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean.

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