Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Bethany
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Bethany definition
house of dates. (1.) The Revised Version in John 1:28 has this word instead of Bethabara, on the authority of the oldest manuscripts. It appears to have been the name of a place on the east of Jordan. (2.) A village on the south-eastern slope of the Mount of Olives (Mark 11:1), about 2 miles east of Jerusalem, on the road to Jericho. It derived its name from the number of palm-trees which grew there. It was the residence of Lazarus and his sisters. It is frequently mentioned in connection with memorable incidents in the life of our Lord (Matt. 21:17; 26:6; Mark 11:11, 12; 14:3; Luke 24:50; John 11:1; 12:1). It is now known by the name of el-Azariyeh, i.e., "place of Lazarus," or simply Lazariyeh. Seen from a distance, the village has been described as "remarkably beautiful, the perfection of retirement and repose, of seclusion and lovely peace." Now a mean village, containing about twenty families.
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Bethany
small village and biblical site on the eastern slopes of the Mount of Olives just outside Jerusalem, situated in the West Bank. Under Jordanian control from 1949 to 1967 Bethany became part of the West Bank territory under Israeli occupation following the Six-Day War of 1967 and later came under the control of the Palestinian Authority in the wake of the 1993 Oslo Accords.
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