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BETHESDA

(Gk. Bēthesdá)

A pool located in Jerusalem “by the Sheep Gate” (John 5:2; possibly “the Sheep Pool”). According to John 5:1-9 many sick and physically impaired people congregated in this pool’s five porticoes, and here Jesus healed a man who had been “ill” for 38 years (but not totally “paralyzed”; cf. v. 7b). Archaeological excavations beside the present church of St. Anne just N of the Temple Mount have partially uncovered the remains of a large double pool dating to pre-Christian times which is almost certainly that mentioned in John 5, , but the exact location of the “five porticoes” is still debated. Therapeutic traditions continued at this site in the 2nd century and beyond through a shrine dedicated to the Roman healing-god Asclepius.

Most English Bibles read Bethesda, but there are significant variations in the Greek texts of John 5:2. Some erroneously read Bethsaida (cf. John 1:44). Others have Bethzatha (Aram. “place of olives”), which some scholars argue was the original reading (NRSV, UBS⁴), but this is probably just a variant of Bezetha, the newest section of Jerusalem in the 1st century (Josephus BJ 2.15.5 [328]; 5.5.2 [148-52]). Most NT manuscripts read Bethesda, meaning either “house or mercy” (Aram. bêṯ ḥesdāʾ) or “place of flowing water” (Aram. bêṯ ʾesdāʾ). The latter interpretation is supported by the 1st-century Copper scroll from Qumran, in which bet ʾesdatayim (a dual form) apparently refers to a double pool near the Jerusalem temple (3Q15 11:12). Thus, the textual confusion may stem from differing Greek transliterations of similar Aramaic names, Bethesda referring to the pool itself and Beth-zatha to its location.

Bibliography. J. Jeremias, The Rediscovery of Bethesda (Louisville, 1966); D. J. Wieand, “John V.2 and the Pool of Bethesda,” NTS 12 (1966): 392-404.

Felix Just, s.j.

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BETHESDA

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)