Bethel (Hebrew: בֵּית אֵל), also written as Beth El or Beth-El, meaning "House of Go" (in general), or "House of (the specific god named) El", was a town in ancient Israel, about 10 miles north of Jerusalem. Its location is generally identified with the modern Palestinian village of Beitin in the West Bank; the biblical name has been applied to the adjacent Israeli settlement of Beit El. A second biblical Bethel, in the southern Judah, is mentioned in Joshua (8:17 and 12:16), and seems to be the same as Bethul or Bethuel, a city of the tribe of Simeon.