King David’s Wells

King David’s Wells (Biyar Daoud) in King David (pbuh) street, off Manger Square, are three Great Cisterns excavated in the rock to the north of the town of Bethlehem in Ras Eftais, an eastern sector of Bethlehem, marking the site where David’s army broke through a Philistine garrison to bring him water; “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem” (2 Sam. 23:15). It is believed that the adjacent Church of St. David is where the King is buried. The cisterns were discovered in 1895. The church rested on a vast Necropolis composed of 18 Arcosolia with two to six tombs each. The cemetery was Christian as proved by the inscription. The Catholic Action Club lies on the site of one of the cisterns.

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