Beth-ezel

Beth-ezel ("house of stability") was a Judean town named in Micah's lament over the impending destruction of Israel's towns: "the wailing of Beth-ezel shall take from you its standing place" (Micah 1:11). The verse is part of a sustained literary tour de force in Micah 1:10-16 — a series of puns on the names of doomed Shephelah and Judean towns, each verse playing on the meaning of the town's name to underscore the prophetic message. The exact site of Beth-ezel is uncertain but lay in the Shephelah lowlands of Judah, in the same district as Lachish, Gath, and Moresheth-gath.