Beer Sheba .(Heb. Beer 8heba', well of swearing or well of seven), an ancient town on the southern border of Palestine, 38 m. S. S. W. of Jerusalem, of which only the ruins are now visible. It took its name from one of two wells still existing near the site. According to one Biblical account (Gen. xxi.) the more ancient one was dug by Abraham and received the name from the fact that he and Abime. lech, king of the Philistines, "swore there" a covenant, and ratified it by the setting apart of "seven" ewe lambs. Another .account (Gen. xxvi.) conveys the impression that Isaac instead of Abraham was the digger of the well. Of the two principal wells at Beer.sheba, the larger one is 12.1/2. ft. in diameter and about 44 ft. deep to the surface of the water; the other, 100 yards further W., is 5 ft. in diameter, and has about the same depth. Both are surrounded by masonry, the inner edge of which, as in other wells of the country, is worn into deep grooves by the friction of the ropes used in drawing up water. These two wells lie near the N. bank of the Wady es.Seba, and a short distance from them is a group of five smaller ones. The ruins of the town, on the slight elevation near these, are unimportant as guides to its history.

It has been little visited by strangers, partly owing to its distance from other places of historical. interest, and partly because of the insecurity of travel in that part of the country. A wilderness, still known as the desert of Beer-sheba, stretches to the southward. The Scriptural passages in which Beer-sheba is mentioned are very numerous; and the position of the town in the extreme south of the country gave rise to the phrase " from Dan to Beer-sheba," as a means of designating the whole land of the Jews, Dan being on the N. border.