noun · feminine
bēthanias
Strong’sG963
Bethany
stem bēthani-12 times in the New Testamentin 4 of 27 books4 of 10 forms occur
What it means
A plain-English reading of the word, with the lexicons it draws on — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones — right below it, in full.
AI Summary
Bethany is the name of a place in the Bible, used of two distinct locations.
The more familiar Bethany is a village about fifteen furlongs (roughly two miles) from Jerusalem, corresponding to the modern El Azerîyeh 1. Its name is explained from Hebrew as either "house of affliction," following Jerome, or perhaps "house of dates" 1, and Strong's likewise renders it "date-house" 2.
A second Bethany lay on the east bank of the Jordan 1, a separate place from the village near Jerusalem though sharing the same name.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-23 — it may still misstate what these say; check them yourself if it matters to you.
The lexicons it was drawn from, in full:
Abbott-Smith — the 1922 lexicon entry, in full
Βηθανία, -ας (also -ιά, indecl., Lk 19:29 and in B*, Mk 11:1), ἡ,
(Heb. בֵּית עֲנִיָּה, house of affliction, acc. to Jerome, or perh., house of dates, cf. Bethphage),
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G963 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidbay-than-ee'-ah
date-house; Beth-any, a place in Palestine
Fromof Chaldee origin;
King JamesBethany.
James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890 — public domain. The numbers in it link to the entries here.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
Bethany;
__1. a village fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem, the modern El Azerîyeh:
__2. A place on E. bank of Jordan:
† (From Abbott-Smith. LSJ has no entry)
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed., 1925–1940) — digitised by the Perseus Digital Library and corrected and expanded by Tyndale House, Cambridge, via STEPBible-Data's TFLSJ table, CC BY 4.0. Covers all of Greek literature, not just the Bible.
Translated as
Every occurrence, sorted by the English it was actually given — the evidence for what the word means, not a gloss of it.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.
Biblang forms
Every form this word takes in Biblang, with the Greek it corresponds to and how often the New Testament uses it.
| Job in the sentence case | one singular | more than one plural |
|---|---|---|
| subject nominative | bēthanias1×Βηθανία | bēthaniais |
| object accusative | bēthanian6×Βηθανίαν | bēthaniain |
| direct address vocative | bēthaniar | bēthaniair |
| of, belonging to genitive | bēthaniau2×Βηθανίας | bēthaniaiu |
| to, for dative | bēthania3×Βηθανίᾳ | bēthaniai |
Tinted cells are forms the New Testament never uses, so there is no Greek to show against them — but they are still correct Biblang, built from the slots below like any other.
Why these forms, and no others — the slots that make them
bēthania is this word in every one of its forms. The slots after it make all the rest.
same in every form varies — every value shown
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
12 occurrences, every one of them listed
bēthanias“Bethany”subjectnominative singular1×
John 11:18ate de tas Bēthanias engus teiu Hierosolumeiu hōs apo stadioiu …Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, a little less …
bēthanian“Bethany”objectaccusative singular6×
Matthew 21:17… autoin exerchata exō tau polau eis Bēthanian, kai aulizita ekei.… went out of the city to Bethany, where He spent the night.
Mark 11:1… engizalō eis Hierosolumeim eis Bēthfagē kai Bēthanian pros tem Orem taiu Elaiaiu, apostelatō …… Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus …
Mark 11:11… ēdē arōntau tau hōrau exerchata eis Bēthanian meta toiu dōdeka.… already late, He went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
Luke 19:29… geneta hōs engizata eis Bēthfagē kai Bēthanian pros tem orem tem kalorōntem Elaiōnaiu, …As He approached Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, He …
Luke 24:50Exagata de autoin heōs pros Bēthanian, kai epararantos tain cheirain autou eulogata …… led them out as far as Bethany, He lifted up His hands and …
John 12:1… hex hēmeraiu teu pascha erchata eis Bēthanian, hopou ate Lazaros, hon egerata ek …… before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, the hometown of Lazarus, whom He …
bēthaniau“Bethany”of, belonging togenitive singular2×
Mark 11:12Kai ta epaurion exercharantoiu autoiu apo Bēthaniau peinata.… next day, when they had left Bethany, Jesus was hungry.
John 11:1Ate de tinos asthenarōntos, Lazaros apo Bēthaniau ek tau kōmau Mariau kai Marthau …… Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her …
bēthania“Bethany”to, fordative singular3×
Matthew 26:6Tou de Iēsu generantou en Bēthania en oikia Simōnou tou leprou,While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the …
Mark 14:3Kai arōntou autou en Bēthania en ta oikia Simōnou tou leprou …While Jesus was in Bethany reclining at the table in the …
John 1:28houteim en Bēthania geneta peran tou Iordanou, hopou ate …All this happened at Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was …