Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
House of mercy, a reservoir (Gr. kolumbethra, “a swimming bath”) with five porches, close to the sheep-gate or market (Neh. 3:1; John 5:2). V. ). ” Others again identify it with the twin pools called the “Souterrains,” under the convent of the Sisters of Zion, situated in what must have been the rock-hewn ditch between Bezetha and the fortress of Antonia. But quite recently Schick has discovered a large tank, as sketched here, situated about 100 feet north-west of St. Anne’s Church, which is, as he contends, very probably the Pool of Bethesda.
No certainty as to its identification, however, has as yet been arrived at.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
(house of mercy, or the flowing water), the Hebrew name of a reservoir or tank, with five “porches,” close upon the sheep-gate or “market” in Jerusalem. (John 5:2) The largest reservoir - Birket Israil - 360 feet long, 120 feet wide and 80 feet deep, within the walls of the city, close by St. Stephen’s Gate, and under the northeast wall of the Haram area, is generally considered to be the modern representative of Bethesda.
Robinson, however, suggests that the ancient Bethesda is identical with what is now called the Pool of the Virgin, an intermittent pool, south of Birket Israil and north of the pool of Siloam.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898) & Schaff's Bible Dictionary
BETHES'DA (house of mercy, or flowing water), a pool in Jerusalem near the sheep-gate or market, John 5:2-9; tradition identifies it with the modern pool Birket-Israel, 360 feet long, 120 feet wide, and 80 feet deep, half filled with rubbish. Capt. Warren found an aqueduct leading from it, probably into the Kedron. Robinson, with more probability, regards Bethesda as identical with the intermittent Pool of the Virgin, outside of the city, above the Pool of Siloam.
Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869)
house of pity or mercy