(Hebrews id. עֵתֶר, abundance), one of the cities in the plain (Shephelah) of Judah (mentioned between Libnah and Ashan, [Jos 15:42], Sept. ῎Αθερ v.r. Ι᾿θάκ), eventually assigned to Simeon (mentioned between Remmon and Ashan, [Jos 19:7], Sept. ῎Αθερ v.r. Ι᾿εθέρ). In the parallel list of the towns of Simeon in [1Ch 4:32], TOCHEN is substituted for Ether. In the Onomasticon Eusebius and Jerome mention it twice (s.v. Ε᾿θέρ, Ether; Ι᾿εθέρ, Jether — in the latter case confounding it with JATTIR, a city of priests, which contained friends of David during his troubles under Saul), and state that it was then a considerable place (κώμη μεγίστη), retaining the name of Jethira (Ι᾿εθειρά, Ι᾿εθαρά), very near Malatha, in the interior of the district of Daroma, that is, in the desert country below Hebron and to the east of Beersheba. At Beit-Jibrin Van de Velde heard of a tell Athar in this neighborhood, but could not learn its distance or direction (Memoir, page 311). For the present, we may conjecturally place it at Beit-Auwa, in the vicinity of the associated localities, S. of Beit-Jibrin and W. of Hebron; a ruined village, covering low hills on both sides of the path, and exhibiting foundations of hewn stones, leading to the inference that it was once an extensive town (Robinson, Researches, 3:10).
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