Bethsaida

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Bethsaida (pronounced /¿b¿¿se¿¿i¿d¿/; Greek ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ b¿thsaidá;, from Hebrew/Aramaic ¿¿¿ ¿¿¿¿ beth-tsaida "house of fishing") is a place mentioned in the New Testament.A city east of the Jordan River, in a "desert place" (that is, uncultivated ground used for grazing) possibly the site at which Jesus miraculously fed the multitude with five loaves and two fish (Mark 6:32; Luke 9:10). It may be possible to identify this site with the village of Bethsaida in Lower Gaulanitis which the tetrarch Herod Philip I raised to the rank of a polis in the year 30/31, and renamed it Julias, in honor of Livia, the wife of Augustus. It lay near the place where the Jordan enters the Sea of Gennesaret (Ant., XVIII, ii, 1; BJ, II, ix, 1; III, x, 7; Vita, 72). This city was most likely located at et-Tell, a ruined site on the east side of the Jordan on rising ground, 2 km from the sea. This distance poses a problem however. Why would a fishing village be so far from the water? During Biblical times the water level of the Sea of Galilee was higher and came up to the base of et-Tell.