**BERSABEA** – One of the oldest localities in Palestine, linked to the names of the first Patriarchs who steadfastly pitched their tents there.
The Hebrew name Bè'er-Sèbha (well of the oath), or (of seven wells), recalls the covenant made by Abraham with Abimelech, king of Gerar, on which occasion the patriarch offered the king seven lambs as testimony to his right of ownership over the well he had dug (Gen. 21:22–34; cf. the similar account concerning Isaac, ibid. 26:26–33).
**B.**, especially in the time of the Kings, marked the extreme southern boundary of Palestine, just as Dan constituted its northern boundary, whence arose the well-known geographical formula (from Dan to B.), by which the Bible often designates, in the sense of longitude, the territory occupied by Israel. After the time of the Patriarchs, B. reappears at the period of the conquest (Josh. 15:28). It was repopulated after the exile (Neh. 11:27–30); then
it gradually declined. Owing to its strategic location on the edge of the desert, it regained importance under Roman occupation. Reduced to ruins by the Arab invasion, B. revived around the year 1000 and today has about 3,000 inhabitants (Bedouins).