Beth Jeshimoth
בֵּית הַיְשִׁמֹת · “Beit Yeshimoth” on the map
Where was biblical Beth Jeshimoth? In the Sweimeh area, NE of the Dead Sea, in Jordan, about 40 km east of Jerusalem. I mark it probable.
Israel pitched its last camp along this plain, from Beit Yeshimoth to Abel Shittim, and waited here while Moses taught the people the words of Deuteronomy.
By Aaron Shaffier, licensed Israel tour guide and mapmaker · About the mapmaker
- Site today
- Sweimeh area, NE of the Dead Sea, in Jordan
- How sure
- Probable The best case we have, with real alternatives.
- Other names
- Beth-jeshimoth, Beit HaYeshimot, Beth-jesimoth, Bezemoth, Besimoth, Sweimeh, Tell el-Azeimeh
- Location
- 31.7639° N, 35.6512° E (Google Maps)
How we know where it was
The Bible gives several fixes. Beit Yeshimoth is on the plains of Moab by the Jordan. It lies "at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah," the edge of the plateau where Moses would climb. It marks the reach of Sihon's kingdom, then becomes a town of Reuben. Ezekiel still names it, centuries later, among the towns that were the glory of Moab. All of that points to the northeast corner of the Dead Sea, close to where the river enters it.
That is where the name survives. The village of Sweimeh, near the northeast shore, still carries it. Josephus mentions Bezemoth in this area, a town the Romans captured in the Jewish war.
There is a catch. Sweimeh has mostly later remains. So one proposal puts the Iron Age town at nearby Tell el-Azeimeh, a little farther east toward the mountains, with the name moving down to the later village. Names drift like that all over the Land. The map's label covers both.
The Talmud keeps an odd and wonderful report. Rabbi Yohanan said he had seen the site of Israel's camp, from Beit Yeshimoth to Abel Shittim, and that it measured three parasangs by three. A parasang is an old Persian measure of distance.
Visiting today
In Jordan, in the Dead Sea resort area near Sweimeh. Little of the ancient town is visible.
Read it in the Bible
Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In a handful of chapters English Bibles count one verse off.
See Beit Yeshimoth on the interactive map →
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Get the print + free ebookNearby places
- Mount Nebo 7 km east
- Abel Shittim 9 km north
- Medeba 14 km east
- Heshbon 15 km east
- Beth Hoglah 15 km northwest
- Gilgal 17 km northwest