Hebrew word · H1022

בֵּית הַלַּחְמִי

beit

Bethlehemite

"The Bethlehemite", a person from Bethlehem ("house of bread/food") in Judah, about 9 km south of Jerusalem. The form names someone by their hometown.

Appears 8 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Group of bet le.chem (בֵּית לֶ֫חֶם "Bethlehem" H1035)

§ Bethlehemite = "house of bread"

an inhabitant of Bethlehem

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 1 Samuel 17:58

Range of meaning

"The Bethlehemite", a person from Bethlehem ("house of bread/food") in Judah, about 9 km south of Jerusalem. The form names someone by their hometown.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and ESV keep "the Bethlehemite". BSB and NIV smooth it to "of Bethlehem". The meaning is the same.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used of Jesse in 16:1 and 16:18, and of Elhanan in 2 Sam 21:19. The town is the setting of Ruth, which ends with David's family line (Ruth 4:17–22).

Where it appears

1 Samuel · 6

  1. 1 Samuel 16:1 בֵּֽית־ הַלַּחְמִ֔י [the] Beth-, <the> -lehemite

    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.”

    Here: The first part of the gentilic (a word for where someone is from), 'the Bethlehemite'. 'Beit' means 'house'.

  2. 1 Samuel 16:18 בֵּ֣ית הַלַּחְמִי֒ [the] Beth-, <the> -lehemite

    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.”

    Here: The first half of the clan-and-town label "the Beth-lehemite".

  3. 1 Samuel 17:58 בֵּ֥ית הַלַּחְמִֽי׃ [the] Beth-, <the> -lehemite

    “Whose son are you, young man?” asked Saul. “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David replied.

    Here: The first half of the word for someone from Bethlehem. It gives Jesse's town and clan setting in Judah.

2 Samuel · 2

  1. 2 Samuel 21:19 בֵּ֣ית הַלַּחְמִ֗י [the] Beth-, <the> -lehemite

    Once again there was a battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.