'Land' in the Bible

Solomon took a census of all the foreign men in the land of Israel, after the census that his father David had conducted, and the total was 153,600.

“Since the day I brought My people Israelout of the land of Egypt,I have not chosen a city to build a temple inamong any of the tribes of Israel,so that My name would be there,and I have not chosen a manto be ruler over My people Israel.

may You hear in heavenand forgive the sin of Your people Israel.May You restore them to the landYou gave them and their ancestors.

may You hear in heavenand forgive the sin of Your servantsand Your people Israel,so that You may teach them the good waythey should walk in.May You send rain on Your landthat You gave Your people for an inheritance.

so that they may fear Youand walk in Your waysall the days they live on the landYou gave our ancestors.

Even for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israelbut has come from a distant landbecause of Your great nameand Your mighty hand and outstretched arm:when he comes and prays toward this temple,

and when they come to their sensesin the land where they were deportedand repent and petition You in their captors’ land,saying: “We have sinned and done wrong;we have been wicked,”

and when they return to You with their whole mind and heartin the land of their captivity where they were taken captive,and when they pray in the direction of their landthat You gave their ancestors,and the city You have chosen,and toward the temple I have built for Your name,

If I close the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on My people,

and My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

As for this temple, which was exalted, everyone who passes by will be appalled and will say: Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?

Then they will say: Because they abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They clung to other gods and worshiped and served them. Because of this, He brought all this ruin on them.

Baalath, all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, all the chariot cities, the cavalry cities, and everything Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or anywhere else in the land of his dominion.

their descendants who remained in the land after them, those the Israelites had not completely destroyed—Solomon imposed forced labor on them; it is this way today.

At that time Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth on the seashore in the land of Edom.

The king made the algum wood into walkways for the Lord’s temple and for the king’s palace and into lyres and harps for the singers. Never before had anything like them been seen in the land of Judah.

besides what was brought by the merchants and traders. All the Arabian kings and governors of the land also brought gold and silver to Solomon.

He ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and as far as the border of Egypt.

However, they will become his servants so that they may recognize the difference between serving Me and serving the kingdoms of other lands.”

Abijah rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. His son Asa became king in his place. During his reign the land experienced peace for 10 years.

Because the land experienced peace, Asa built fortified cities in Judah. No one made war with him in those days because the Lord gave him rest.

So he said to the people of Judah, “Let’s build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, with doors and bars. The land is still ours because we sought the Lord our God. We sought Him and He gave us rest on every side.” So they built and succeeded.

When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He renovated the altar of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord’s temple.

He stationed troops in every fortified city of Judah and set garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.

However, some good is found in you, for you have removed the Asherah poles from the land and have decided to seek God.”

He appointed judges in all the fortified cities of the land of Judah, city by city.

Are You not our God who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and who gave it forever to the descendants of Abraham Your friend?

They have lived in the land and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name and have said,

Now here are the Ammonites, Moabites, and the inhabitants of Mount Seir. You did not let Israel invade them when Israel came out of the land of Egypt, but Israel turned away from them and did not destroy them.

While Athaliah ruled over the land, he was hiding with them in God’s temple six years.

As she looked, there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance. The commanders and the trumpeters were by the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets while the singers with musical instruments were leading the praise. Athaliah tore her clothes and screamed, “Treason, treason!”

Then he took with him the commanders of hundreds, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the land and brought the king down from the Lord’s temple. They entered the king’s palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the throne of the kingdom.

All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet, for they had put Athaliah to death by the sword.

So King Uzziah was diseased to the time of his death. He lived in quarantine with a serious skin disease and was excluded from access to the Lord’s temple, while his son Jotham was over the king’s household governing the people of the land.

for when you return to Yahweh, your brothers and your sons will receive mercy in the presence of their captors and will return to this land. For Yahweh your God is gracious and merciful; He will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”

The couriers traveled from city to city in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun, but the inhabitants laughed at them and mocked them.

Then the whole assembly of Judah with the priests and Levites, the whole assembly that came from Israel, the foreigners who came from the land of Israel, and those who were living in Judah, rejoiced.

Many people gathered and stopped up all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land; they said, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?”

“‘Don’t you know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Have any of the national gods of the lands been able to deliver their land from my power?

They spoke against the God of Jerusalem like they had spoken against the gods of the peoples of the earth, which were made by human hands.

and the Lord sent an angel who annihilated every brave warrior, leader, and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria returned in disgrace to his land. He went to the temple of his god, and there some of his own children struck him down with the sword.

When the ambassadors of Babylon’s rulers were sent to him to inquire about the miraculous sign that happened in the land, God left him to test him and discover what was in his heart.

I will never again remove the feet of the Israelites from the land where I stationed your ancestors, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them through Moses—all the law, statutes, and judgments.”

He tore down the altars, and he smashed the Asherah poles and the carved images to powder. He chopped down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel and returned to Jerusalem.

In the eighteenth year of his reign, in order to cleanse the land and the temple, Josiah sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, along with Maaseiah the governor of the city and the court historian Joah son of Joahaz, to repair the temple of the Lord his God.

The king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and fined the land 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold.

This fulfilled the word of the Lord through Jeremiah and the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation until 70 years were fulfilled.