Thematic Bible: Siege


Thematic Bible



On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine [caused by the siege] was severe in the city; there was no food for the people of the land.

And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and each one will eat one another’s flesh during the siege and distress brought by their enemies and those who seek their lives.”’ Verse ConceptsBad ChildrenCannibalismAttacks On Jerusalem Foretold

Afterward, Ben-hadad king of Syria gathered his whole army and went up and besieged Samaria, And a great famine came to Samaria. They besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove's dung [a wild vegetable] for five shekels of silver. As the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, a woman cried to him, Help, my lord, O king! read more.
He said, [For] if he does not help you [No, let the Lord help you!], from where can I get you help? Out of the threshing floor, or out of the winepress? And the king said to her, What ails you? She answered, This woman said to me, Give me your son so we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, Give your son so we may eat him, but she had hidden her son.


They slice off [in discord] what is on the right hand but are still hungry,
And they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied;
Each eats the flesh of his own arm.
Verse ConceptsStomachs

But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?” Verse ConceptsMonotonyRepulsive FoodDefecationUrinatingpoop

In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it, and they built siege works against it round about. The city was besieged [nearly two years] until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was complete in the city; there was no food for the people of the land.

At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it.

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. Verse ConceptsActual Attacks On Jerusalem

Ben-hadad king of Aram (Syria) gathered all his army together; thirty-two kings were [allied] with him, with horses and chariots. And he went up and besieged Samaria [Israel’s capital], and fought against it. Verse Conceptsenemies, of Israel and JudahAttackingChariotsHorsesSiegesThirty SomeNations Attacking Israelsyria

Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land [of Israel] and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. Verse ConceptsThree YearsNations Attacking Israel

In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. After three years it was taken; in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. The king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,

But it came about after this, that Ben-hadad king of Aram (Syria) gathered his whole army together and went up and besieged Samaria. Verse ConceptsSiegesNations Attacking Israelsyria


I will camp against you and encircle you,
And I will hem you in with siege works,
And I will raise fortifications against you.
Verse ConceptsAttacks On Jerusalem Foretold

When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by using an ax on them, for you can eat their fruit; you must not cut them down, for is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by you? Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, that you may build siege works against the city that makes war with you until it falls.

“Therefore, the Lord says this concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with shield, or raise an assault ramp against it. Verse ConceptsAttacks On Jerusalem Turned Back

After these things and this loyalty, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, invaded Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to take them. When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and intended to fight against Jerusalem, He decided with his officers and his mighty men to stop up the waters of the fountains which were outside the city [by enclosing them with masonry and concealing them], and they helped him. read more.
So many people gathered, and they stopped up all the springs and the brook which flowed through the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water? Also Hezekiah took courage and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised towers upon it, and he built another wall outside and strengthened the Millo in the City of David and made weapons and shields in abundance. And he set captains of war over the people and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city and spoke encouragingly to them, saying, Be strong and courageous. Be not afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there is Another with us greater than [all those] with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. And this Sennacherib king of Assyria, while he himself with all his forces was before Lachish, sent his servants to Jerusalem, to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah who were at Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria: On what do you trust, that you remain in the strongholds in Jerusalem? Is not Hezekiah leading you on in order to let you die by famine and thirst, saying, The Lord our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Has not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, You shall worship before one altar and burn incense upon it? Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands in any way able to deliver their lands out of my hand? Who among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed was able to deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand? So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive or mislead you in this way, and do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand or the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you out of my hand! And his servants said still more against the Lord God and against His servant Hezekiah. The Assyrian king also wrote letters insulting the Lord, the God of Israel, and speaking against Him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of my hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver His people out of my hand. And they shouted it loudly in the Jewish language to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them, that they might take the city. And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem as they spoke of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of the hands of men. For this cause Hezekiah the king and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed and cried to heaven. And the Lord sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So the Assyrian king returned with shamed face to his own land. And when he came into the house of his god, they who were his own offspring slew him there with the sword. Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria and from the hand of all his enemies, and He guided them on every side. And many brought gifts to Jerusalem to the Lord and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah; so from then on he was magnified in the sight of all nations.

When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. And if that city makes an answer of peace to you and opens to you, then all the people found in it shall be tributary to you and they shall serve you. But if it refuses to make peace with you and fights against you, then you shall besiege it.

And the king said to her, What ails you? She answered, This woman said to me, Give me your son so we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, Give your son so we may eat him, but she had hidden her son.

Baasha the son of Ahijah of the house (tribe) of Issachar conspired against Nadab, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon. Verse ConceptsConspiraciesKilling KingsThe Nations Attacked

Now the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You shall not enter here, for the blind and the lame [even the weakest among us] will turn you away”; they thought, “David cannot come in here [because the walls are impenetrable].” Verse ConceptsdisabilitiesZion, As A PlaceEntering Cities

So David lived in the stronghold and called it the City of David. And he built all around [the surrounding area] from the Millo [fortification] and inward. Verse ConceptsFortressesCity Of DavidStrongholdsZion, As A PlaceFortsPeople Naming ThingsRebuilding Jerusalem

Then Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah. Verse ConceptsPeople Attacking Their Own

And the army of Joab came and besieged Sheba in Abel Beth-maacah, and they built up an assault ramp against the city, and it stood against the outer rampart; and all the people who were with Joab were wreaking destruction to make the wall fall. Verse ConceptsBattering ramsSiegesWallsSiege MoundsPeople Attacking Their Own

Then Rezin the king of Aram (Syria) and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to wage war. They besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome and conquer him. Verse ConceptsActual Attacks On JerusalemList Of Kings Of Israelsyria

Then it happened in the spring, at the time when the kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all [the fighting men of] Israel, and they destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. Verse ConceptsJerusalem, History OfSpringSiegesNature Of KingsReady For WarThe Nations Attackedspringtime

Then the sons of Judah fought against [Jebusite] Jerusalem and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. Verse ConceptsConquestBurning Jerusalem