Beth-azmaveth

Beth-azmaveth is a Benjaminite town near Jerusalem, listed among the places that contributed returnees in the post-exilic resettlement. The same town is also called simply Azmaveth.

A Town of Benjamin in the Return

The town's men appear in Nehemiah's roster of returnees with a specific count. "The men of Beth-azmaveth, forty and two" (Neh 7:28). The figure repeats the size attested in the parallel registers, marking Beth-azmaveth as a small but identifiable contributing community.

Called Azmaveth

The shorter form of the name appears in two adjacent post-exilic lists. The temple-singers' settlement notice places the village among those whose fields ringed Jerusalem. "Also from Beth-gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the singers had built themselves villages round about Jerusalem" (Neh 12:29). Ezra's parallel return-list uses the same shorter name with the matching count. "The sons of Azmaveth, forty and two" (Ezra 2:24). The two forms — Beth-azmaveth and Azmaveth — refer to the same community.