Bible Synapse
Pool of Bethesda
Site · c. 200 BC – AD 70 · Time of Jesus · also called Bethzatha, Pools of Bethesda
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- c. 200 BC – AD 70 (the twin pools in use (the second pool was added about 200 BC))
- Found
- Grounds of the Church of St Anne, Jerusalem. First uncovered in the late 19th century, when Conrad Schick recorded a large tank; excavations in 1964 exposed two pools with a dam between them, a Roman healing shrine and later churches.
- Now
- At the site (Church of St Anne), Jerusalem
- Passages
- John 5:1–9
What it is
Two large pools beside the Church of St Anne, near the Lions' Gate of the Old City, divided by a broad dam. The first pool began as a reservoir in the 8th century BC, and the second was added about 200 BC. After the time of Jesus a Roman healing shrine was built beside them, and Byzantine and Crusader churches were later built over the site.
How it connects to the Bible
John 5 sets a healing at “a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches”. Many scholars once dismissed the five porches as unhistorical, but the excavated pool, split into two basins with porticoes around it, fits the description. Some, such as Urban von Wahlde, argue that the southern basin served as a ritual bath.
What scholars debate
How the porches were arranged, and whether the pools served as reservoirs or as ritual baths, is still debated.