BETHSUR. – Palestinian city (Heb. Beth-šūr, “house of the cliff”), Gr. Βεθαούρ(α), Arabic Bejt Šūr. It belonged to the tribe of Judah (Jos. 15:58; cf. I Par. 2:45), and was situated at the 29th km. of the road from Jerusalem to Hebron. Already before the Exile it was an important city, fortified by Roboam (II Par. 11:7, 11, 12); invaded by the Idumeans during the Exile, it was again occupied by the returning Jews and made the capital of a district (περίγραφος, cf. Neh. 3:16).
The name of B. is linked to the history of the Maccabees, particularly to the brilliant victory won by Judas Maccabee in 165 B.C. over the army of Lysias (I Mach. 4:28-35; for V. 29 cf. the Septuagint: ἐν Βεθαούραις). B. was strongly fortified (I Mach. 6:7, 26), but two years later it was treacherously occupied by Antiochus V Eupator (I Mach. 6:49 sq.). After the vicissitudes that followed the death of Judas, his brother Simon liberated it and again fortified it in 142 (I Mach. 11:65; 14:7, 33).
In the Roman period B. formed part of Palestine II, as the territory of Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem). In the Christian tradition, attested by Eusebius, Onomatticon, 52, 3-4 (ed. Klostermann), subsequently followed by others, and marked on the Madaba Map, B. is indicated as the place (ʿAjn ed-Dirweh) where the deacon Philip baptized the eunuch of Queen Candace (Act. 8:26-39).
Today, following the excavations conducted in 1931 by the American School, B. is identified with Hírbet es-Tabejgh, near the medieval Burğ Bejt Šūr, which has preserved the ancient name.