Bethjeshimoth
Beth-jesh'imoth or (as it is less correctly Anglicized in Nu 33:49) Beth-jes'imoth (Heb. Beyth ha-Yeshimoth', בֵּית הִישִׁימוֹת [in Nu 33:49, בֵּית הִישִׁמֹת], house of the wastes; Sept. Αἰσιμώθ [v. r. Αἰσιμώθ], but Βηθασιμώθ in Jos 13:20, and Βηθιασιμούθ [v. r. Ι᾿ασιμούθ, Βηθασιμούθ] in Eze 25:9), a town or place not far east of Jordan, near Abel-Shittim, in the "deserts" (עֲרבֹת) of Moab — that is, on the lower level at the south end of the Jordan valley (Nu 33:49)-and named with Ashdothpisgah and Beth-Peor. It was one of the limits of the encampment of Israel before crossing the Jordan. It lay within the territory of Sihon, king of the Amorites (Jos 12:3), and was allotted to Reuben (Jos 13:20), but came at last into the hands of Moab, and formed one of the cities which were "the glory of the country" (Eze 25:9). According to Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast. s.v. Βηθασιμούθ, Bethsimuth) it was still called by the same name (τόποι τῇς Ι᾿σμούθ, Domus Isimuth), being "opposite Jericho, 10 miles to the south, near the Dead Sea," meaning apparently southeast, and across the Jordan. It is evidently the Besimoth (Βησιμώθ) captured by Placidus, the general of Vespasian (Josephus, War, 4, 7, 6). Schwarz (Palest. p. 228) states that there are still "the ruins of a Beth-Jisimuth situated on the north- easternmost point of the Dead Sea, half a mile from the Jordan;" a locality which, although reported by no other traveler, cannot be far from correct (Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 296).
