Bethesda (be-thĕs-dah), house of mercy, or flowing water. A pool in Jerusalem near the sheep-gate or market, John 5:2-9; tradition has identified it with the modern pool Birket-Israil, 360 feet lone, 120 feet wide, and 80 feet deep, half filled with rubbish, but Schick recently discovered two pools about 100 feet northwest of and beneath the church of St. Anne (noticed in the tenth to fourteenth centuries), which answer better the Scripture description of Bethesda.