Bethul

Bethul was a Simeonite Negev town named in Joshua 19:4 in the catalog of the tribe's thirteen cities: "And Bethul, and Hormah, and Ziklag." The parallel list in 1 Chronicles 4:30 names the same site as the longer form "Bethuel." The town lay in the western Negev between Beersheba and Ziklag, in the cluster of Simeonite frontier holdings that were absorbed into Judah during the early monarchy. The site is generally identified with Khirbet el-Qaryatein, though the exact location remains uncertain.