Biblical village of Bethsaida where Jesus performed some of his most famous miracles is finally identified by archaeologists after 32 years of excavations

Bethsaida where Jesus performed the Miracle of Multiplication of loaves and fish, walked on water and helped a blind man to see.

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A Biblical village where Jesus performed some of his most famous miracles really existed, and today lies in ruins only a mile from the Sea of Galilee, archaeologists believe.

In the Bible, Bethsaida was home to disciples Peter, Andrew and Philip, and was where Jesus purportedly fed the 5,000, walked on water and helped a blind man to see.  

Archaeologists have been working for 32 years to find the lost city, which was eventually cursed to destruction by Jesus because residents failed to repent in spite of his miracles. 

Now professor Rami Arav of the University of Nebraska says he is in no doubt that Et-Tell, in the Golan Heights near the Jordan River estuary, is the location of the biblical village. 

A biblical village cursed to destruction by Jesus really existed and today lies in ruins only a mile from the Sea of Galilee, archaeologists believe.

THE BIBLICAL MIRACLES OF BETHSAIDA

Bethsaida — the biblical hometown to disciples Andrew, Peter and Philip — was reputedly where Jesus performed a number of miracles.

It lies on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee, at the terminus of the River Jordan — not too far from Capernaum, where Jesus spent much of his adulthood. The name Bethsaida means 'House of the Fisherman' in Hebrew.

The miracles performed at Bethsaida included the feeding of the 5,000, in which Christ — following the death of John the Baptist — used five loaves and two fishes supplied by a boy to feed a crowd of his followers.

'Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people,' the event is described in Luke 9:16–17.

'They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.'

The Gospel of Mark, meanwhile, tells of a blind man of Bethsaida whose sight was restored after two blessings from Jesus. 

'They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him,' begins Mark 8:22.

'He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” ' 

'He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” '

'Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.'

'Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.” '

According to the Benedictine Monk Saint Bede, this miracle serves as an example of how 'Christ teaches us how great is the spiritual blindness of man, which only by degrees, and by successive stages, can come to the light of Divine knowledge.'

Pictured: Jesus, as played by Robert Powell, heals the blind man, played by Renato Rascel, in the 1977 miniseries Jesus of Nazareth

Also in Mark is a reference to Jesus walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee — a miracle performed in the wake of the feeding of the 5,000, after which Jesus had sent the disciples ahead of him to Bethsaida by boat.

'After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray,' begins Mark 6–45.

'Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. 

'Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified.'

'Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down.'

According to Matthew, meanwhile, the area around Bethsaida is where Jesus began his public ministry — fulfilling the prediction of Isaiah that its people would see 'a great light'.

However, Jesus' preachings appear to have fallen on largely deaf ears by the time he came to make his final journey to Jerusalem.

'Woe to you Bethsaida!' Jesus is reported to have said in Luke 10:13.

'For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.'