Beth Zur

In Bible versions:

Beth Zur: NET NIV
Beth-Zur: NET AVS TEV
Beth-zur: NRSV NASB
Beth-zur.: NRSV
Bethzur: NASB

a town & district in the hill country of Judah
son of Maon of Judah

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house of a rock

Google Maps: Beth-zur (31° 35´, 35° 6´)

Hebrew

Strongs #01049: rwu tyb Beyth Tsuwr

Beth-zur = "house of the rock"

n pr loc
1) a place in Judah

n pr m
2) the son of Maon

1049 Beyth Tsuwr bayth tsoor'

from 1004 and 6697; house of (the) rock; Beth-Tsur, a place
in Palestine:-Beth-zur.
see HEBREW for 01004
see HEBREW for 06697

Bethzur [EBD]

house of rock, a town in the mountains of Judah (Josh. 15:58), about 4 miles to the north of Hebron. It was built by Rehoboam for the defence of his kingdom (2 Chr. 11:7). It stood near the modern ed-Dirweh. Its ruins are still seen on a hill which bears the name of Beit-Sur, and which commands the road from Beer-sheba and Hebron to Jerusalem from the south.

Beth-zur [NAVE]

BETH-ZUR, a town in Judah, Josh. 15:58; 1 Chr. 2:45; 2 Chr. 11:7; Neh. 3:16.

BETHZUR [SMITH]

(house of rock) a town in the mountains of Judah, built by Jeroboam, (Joshua 15:58; 2 Chronicles 11:7) now Beit-zur . It commands the road from Beersheba and Hebron, which has always been the main approach to Jerusalem from the south.

BETH-ZUR [ISBE]

BETH-ZUR - beth'-zur (beth-tsur; Baith-sour, "house of rock"; less probably "house of the god Zur"):

(1) Mentioned (Josh 15:58) as near Halhul and Gedor in the hill country of Judah; fortified by Rehoboam (2 Ch 11:7). In Neh 3:16 mention is made of "Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of half the district of Beth-zur." During the Maccabean wars it (Bethsura) came into great importance (1 Macc 4:29,61; 6:7,26,31,49,50; 9:52; 10:14; 11:65; 14:7,33). Josephus describes it as the strongest place in all Judea (Ant., XIII, v, 6). It was inhabited in the days of Eusebius and Jerome.

(2) It is the ruined site Belt Cur, near the main road from Jerusalem to Hebron, and some 4 miles North of the latter. Its importance lay in its natural strength, on a hilltop dominating the highroad, and also in its guarding the one southerly approach for a hostile army by the Vale of Elah to the Judean plateau. The site today is conspicuous from a distance through the presence of a ruined medieval tower. (See PEF, III, 311, Sh XXI).

E. W. G. Masterman