Bethlehem ~ ቤተ ልሔም: “Bethlehem” means house of bread / SBD, (ዘፍ 48፡7)

The root words for ‘Bethlehem’ are ‘Biet’ (ቤት) and ‘Lahm’ (ላም) ፥ The meaning is ‘house of cows’/ Ibid. It is also translated as ‘house of meat’

One of the oldest towns in Palestine, already in existence at the time of Jacob's return to the country, “And as for me ... Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way...and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Bethlehem.” (Gen 48:7)

Other people with the same name are: A city in the "hill country" of Judah; It was originally called Ephrath (Gen 35:16, 19; 48:7; Ru 4:11). It was also called Beth-lehem Ephratah (Mic 5:2), Beth-lehem-judah; (1 Sam 17:12), and "the city of David" (Luk 2:4).; A city of Zebulun, mentioned only in (Jos 19:15); Son of Salma, “…Salma the father of Bethlehem, Hareph the father of Bethgader.” (1Chr.2:51)
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ቤተልሔም ~Bethlehem: ቤተ ላህም፣ የላሕም ቤት፣ የላም ቤት፣ የከብቶች ማደሪያ ማለት ነው።

‘ቤተ’ እና ‘ላም’ ከሚሉ ሁለት ቃላት የተመሠረተ ስም ነው።

[የእንጀራ ቤት ማለት ነው / መቅቃ]

በዚህ ስም የሚታወቁ ሁለት ቦታዎችና አንድ ሰው አሉ።

1.                  ያቆብ ከመስጴጦምያ በመጣ ጊዜ፥ ወደ ኤፍራታ ለመግባት ጥቂት ሲቀር በመንገድ ሳለ፥ “ራሔል በከነዓን ምድር ሞተችብኝ በዚያም በኤፍራታ መንገድ ላይ፥ እርስዋም ቤተ ልሔም ናት፥ ቀበርኋት...” (ዘፍ 48፡7)፣“...አንተም በኤፍራታ ባለ ጠጋ ሁን፥ ስምህም በቤተ ልሔም ይጠራ።” (ሩት 4:11)

2.                  ጌታ ኢየሱስ  “አንቺም ቤተ ልሔም ኤፍራታ ሆይ፥ ...” (ሚካ 5:2) ፣ (1 ሳሙ 17:12)፣ ቤተልሔም ይሁዳ፥ (ሉቃ 2:4)፣ የዛብሎን ልጆች ርስት፥ “ቀጣት፥ ነህላል፥ ሺምሮን፥ ይዳላ፥ ቤተ ልሔም አሥራ ሁለት …” (ኢያ 19:15)

3.                  የካሌብ ልጅ፣ የሰልሞን ልጅ፥ “የቤተ ልሔም አባት ሰልሞን፥ ...” (1 ዜና 2:51)