'Cities' in the Bible

Young lions roar at him, they cry out loudly. They have made his land into a wasteland, and his cities are destroyed so they are without inhabitants.

Declare in Judah, make known in Jerusalem, by saying, "Blow the trumpet in the land, cry out, and say, "Gather together and let's go to the fortified cities!'

A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will be ruined, and without inhabitants.

"Tell the nations, "Here they come!' Proclaim to Jerusalem, "The besieging forces are coming from a distant land. They cry out against the cities of Judah.

"They'll devour your harvest and your food. They'll devour your sons and your daughters. They'll devour your vines and your fig trees. With their swords they'll batter down your fortified cities in which you trust.

Don't you see what they're doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

Why are we sitting here? Join together! Let's go to the fortified cities and perish there! For the LORD our God has condemned us to perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against him.

They'll come from the cities of Judah, from the places around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin, from the Shephelah, from the hill country, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and incense, and bringing thanksgiving offerings to the LORD's Temple.

May that man be like the cities that the LORD overthrew without compassion. Let him hear a cry in the morning, and a battle cry at noon,

Jerusalem, the cities of Judah, its kings and officials to make them into a ruin, an object of horror and scorn, and a curse, as it is this day;

"This is what the LORD says: "Stand in the courtyard of the LORD's Temple and tell those from all the cities of Judah who are coming to worship at the LORD's Temple everything that I've commanded you to say to them. Don't leave out a word!

Set up markers for yourselves. Erect signposts for yourselves. Pay attention to the highway, to the road you traveled. Return, virgin Israel, return to these cities of yours.

"This is what the LORD says: "You are saying about this place, "It is a ruin without people and without animals." Yet in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem which are desolate places without inhabitants and without animals, there will again be heard

while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah that were left, namely Lachish and Azekah. (They were the only fortified cities that remained among the cities of Judah.)

When he still did not respond, Nebuzaradan said, "Return to Ahikam's son Gedaliah, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the cities of Judah, and remain with him among the people or go wherever it seems right for you to go." Then the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a gift and sent him off.

As for me, I'll remain at Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us. As for you, gather wine, summer fruit, and oil. Put it in your containers and live in your cities that you have taken over."

"This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "You have seen the disaster that I brought on Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah. Look, they're in ruins today, with no one living in them,

My wrath and my anger were poured out, and they burned in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem so that they have become a ruin and a desolate place, as is the case today.'

Rather, we will keep doing everything that we said we would by offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and by pouring out liquid offerings to her just as we, our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders did in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of bread, things went well for us, and we didn't experience disaster.

"As for the sacrifices that you, your ancestors, your kings, your officials, and the people of the land offered in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, the LORD remembered them, did he not? And they came to his attention, did they not?

Moab will be destroyed, and the enemy will come up against her cities. Her finest young men will go down to slaughter," declares the King, whose name is the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

Abandon the cities, and live on the cliffs, you inhabitants of Moab. Be like a dove that builds a nest by the mouth of a cave.

The arrogant one will stumble and fall, and there will be no one to lift him up. I'll set fire to his cities, and it will devour everything around him."

Her cities will become an object of horror, a dry land and a desert, a land in which no one lives, and through which no human being passes.