'Down' in the Bible

Sharon will be a pasture for flocks,and the Valley of Achor a place for cattle to lie down,for My people who have sought Me.

I will destine you for the sword,and all of you will kneel down to be slaughtered,because I called and you did not answer,I spoke and you did not hear;you did what was evil in My sightand chose what I did not delight in.

See, I have appointed you todayover nations and kingdomsto uproot and tear down,to destroy and demolish,to build and plant.

For long ago I broke your yoke;I tore off your chains.You insisted, “I will not serve!”On every high hilland under every green treeyou lie down like a prostitute.

I have struck down your children in vain;they would not accept discipline.Your own sword has devoured your prophetslike a ravaging lion.

Let us lie down in our shame;let our disgrace cover us.We have sinned against the Lord our God,both we and our fathers,from the time of our youth even to this day.We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

I looked, and the fertile field was a wilderness.All its cities were torn downbecause of the Lordand His burning anger.

Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down.A wolf from an arid plain will ravage them.A leopard keeps watch over their cities.Anyone who leaves them will be torn to piecesbecause their rebellious acts are many,their unfaithful deeds numerous.

For this is what the Lord of Hosts says:Cut down the trees;raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem.This city must be punished.There is nothing but oppression within her.

For a sound of lamentation is heard from Zion:How devastated we are.We are greatly ashamed,for we have abandoned the land;our dwellings have been torn down.

for the customs of the peoples are worthless.Someone cuts down a tree from the forest;it is worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.

“I am about to send for many fishermen”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and they will fish for them. Then I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and out of the clefts of the rocks,

“Go down at once to the potter’s house; there I will reveal My words to you.”

So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel.

At one moment I might announce concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down, and destroy it.

Therefore, hand their children over to famine,and pour the sword’s power on them.Let their wives become childless and widowed,their husbands slain by deadly disease,their young men struck down by the sword in battle.

For I have turned against this city to bring disaster and not good’”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “‘It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, who will burn it down.’

Beware! I am against you,you who sit above the valley,you atop the rocky plateau—this is the Lord’s declaration—you who say, “Who can come down against us?Who can enter our hiding places?”

This is what the Lord says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and announce this word there.

I will appoint destroyers against you,each with his weapons.They will cut down the choicest of your cedarsand throw them into the fire.

Therefore, their way will be to themlike slippery paths in the gloom.They will be driven away and fall down there,for I will bring disaster on them,the year of their punishment.This is the Lord’s declaration.

“Then you are to say to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk, and vomit. Fall down and never get up again, as a result of the sword I am sending among you.

For he has sent word to us in Babylon, claiming, “The exile will be long. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat their produce.”’”

This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Write down on a scroll all the words that I have spoken to you,

Just as I watched over them to uproot and to tear them down, to demolish and to destroy, and to cause disaster, so will I be attentive to build and to plant them,” says the Lord.

For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the houses of this city and the palaces of Judah’s kings, the ones torn down for defense against the siege ramps and the sword:

The people coming to fight the Chaldeans will fill the houses with the corpses of their own men that I strike down in My wrath and rage. I have hidden My face from this city because of all their evil.

“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Go, speak to Zedekiah, king of Judah, and tell him: This is what the Lord says: I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.

I am about to give the command”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down. I will make Judah’s cities a desolation, without inhabitant.”

he went down to the scribe’s chamber in the king’s palace. All the officials were sitting there—Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.

They said to him, “Sit down and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their hearing.

The Chaldeans will then return and fight against this city. They will capture it and burn it down.

Indeed, if you were to strike down the entire Chaldean army that is fighting with you, and there remained among them only the badly wounded men, each in his tent, they would get up and burn this city down.”

Jeremiah therefore said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘If indeed you surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then you will live, this city will not be burned down, and you and your household will survive.

But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city will be handed over to the Chaldeans. They will burn it down, and you yourself will not escape from them.’”

All your wives and sons will be brought out to the Chaldeans. You yourself will not escape from them, for you will be seized by the king of Babylon and this city will burn down.’”

The Chaldeans next burned down the king’s palace and the people’s houses and tore down the walls of Jerusalem.

and warned him, “Don’t you realize that Baalis, king of the Ammonites, has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to kill you?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam would not believe them.

Then Johanan son of Kareah suggested to Gedaliah in private at Mizpah, “Let me go kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah. No one will know it. Why should he kill you and scatter all of Judah that has gathered to you so that the remnant of Judah would perish?”

but then Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the 10 men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword; he killed the one the king of Babylon had appointed in the land.

Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were there.

Now the cistern where Ishmael had thrown all the corpses of the men he had struck down was a large one that King Asa had made in the encounter with Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.

away from the Chaldeans. For they feared them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed in the land.

He will come and strike down the land of Egypt—those destined for death, to death; those destined for captivity, to captivity; and those destined for the sword, to the sword.

He will smash the sacred pillars of the sun temple in the land of Egypt and burn down the temples of the Egyptian gods.”

Why have your strong ones been swept away?Each has not stood,for the Lord has thrust him down.

Come down from glory; sit on parched ground,resident of the daughter of Dibon,for the destroyer of Moab has come against you;he has destroyed your fortresses.

For this is what the Lord says:He will swoop down like an eagleand spread his wings against Moab.

Therefore look, the days are coming—this is the Lord’s declaration—when I will make the shout of battle heardagainst Rabbah of the Ammonites.It will become a desolate mound,and its villages will be burned down.Israel will dispossess their dispossessors,says the Lord.

As to the terror you cause,your presumptuous heart has deceived you.You who live in the clefts of the rock,you who occupy the mountain summit,though you elevate your nest like the eagle,even from there I will bring you down.This is the Lord’s declaration.

Look! It will be like an eagle soaring upward, then swooping down and spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman with contractions.

How the hammer of the whole earthis cut down and smashed!What a horror Babylon has becomeamong the nations!

Put all her young bulls to the sword;let them go down to the slaughter.Woe to them, because their day has come,the time of their punishment.

Look, I am against you, devastating mountain—this is the Lord’s declaration—you devastate the whole earth.I will stretch out My hand against you,roll you down from the cliffs,and turn you into a charred mountain.

I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,like rams together with male goats.

The whole Chaldean army with the commander of the guards tore down all the walls surrounding Jerusalem.

How the Lord has overshadowedDaughter Zion with His anger!He has thrown down Israel’s gloryfrom heaven to earth.He has abandoned His footstoolin the day of His anger.

צ TsadeThe hearts of the people cry out to the Lord.Wall of Daughter Zion,let your tears run down like a riverday and night.Give yourself no reliefand your eyes no rest.

ג GimelHe has walled me in so I cannot escape;He has weighed me down with chains.

until the Lord looks downfrom heaven and sees.

From what seemed to be His waist up, I saw a gleam like amber, with what looked like fire enclosing it all around. From what seemed to be His waist down, I also saw what looked like fire. There was a brilliant light all around Him.

“Then lie down on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. You will bear their iniquity for the number of days you lie on your side.

For I have assigned you the years of their iniquity according to the number of days you lie down, 390 days; so you will bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

When you have completed these days, lie down again, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.

Your altars will be desolated and your incense altars smashed. I will throw down your slain in front of your idols.

Wherever you live the cities will be in ruins and the high places will be desolate, so that your altars will lie in ruins and be desecrated, your idols smashed and obliterated, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out.

In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting in front of me, and there the hand of the Lord God came down on me.

I looked, and there was a form that had the appearance of a man. From what seemed to be His waist down was fire, and from His waist up was something that looked bright, like the gleam of amber.

But as for Me, I will not show pity or spare them. I will bring their actions down on their own heads.”

But as for those whose hearts pursue their desire for detestable things and practices, I will bring their actions down on their own heads.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.

therefore, tell those who plaster it that it will fall. Torrential rain will come, and I will send hailstones plunging down, and a windstorm will be released.

I will tear down the wall you plastered with whitewash and knock it to the ground so that its foundation is exposed. The city will fall, and you will be destroyed within it. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me.

I will hand you over to them, and they will level your mounds and tear down your elevated places. They will strip off your clothes, take your beautiful jewelry, and leave you stark naked.

Then they will burn down your houses and execute judgments against you in the sight of many women. I will stop you from being a prostitute, and you will never again pay fees for lovers.

Because you did not remember the days of your youth but enraged Me with all these things, I will also bring your actions down on your own head.” This is the declaration of the Lord God. “Haven’t you committed immoral acts in addition to all your detestable practices?

Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: “As I live, I will bring down on his head My oath that he despised and My covenant that he broke.

Then all the trees of the field will knowthat I am Yahweh.I bring down the tall tree,and make the low tree tall.I cause the green tree to witherand make the withered tree thrive.I, Yahweh, have spokenand I will do it.

and say:What was your mother? A lioness!She lay down among the lions;she reared her cubs among the young lions.

In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, some of Israel’s elders came to consult the Lord, and they sat down in front of me.

This is what the Lord God says:Remove the turban, and take off the crown.Things will not remain as they are;exalt the lowly and bring down the exalted.

So I have poured out My indignation on them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their actions down on their own heads.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.

The assembly will stone them and cut them down with their swords. They will kill their sons and daughters and burn their houses with fire.

“Son of man, write down today’s date, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day.

He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and tear down your towers with his iron tools.

They will take your wealth as spoil and plunder your merchandise. They will also demolish your walls and tear down your beautiful homes. Then they will throw your stones, timber, and soil into the water.

then I will bring you down to be with those who descend to the Pit, to the people of antiquity. I will make you dwell in the underworld like the ancient ruins, with those who descend to the Pit, so that you will no longer be inhabited or display your splendor in the land of the living.

Now you are shattered by the seain the depths of the waters;your goods and the people within youhave gone down.

They will bring you down to the Pit,and you will die a violent deathin the heart of the sea.

Your heart became proud because of your beauty;For the sake of your splendoryou corrupted your wisdom.So I threw you down to the earth;I made you a spectacle before kings.

A sword will come against Egypt,and there will be anguish in Cushwhen the slain fall in Egypt,and its wealth is taken away,and its foundations are torn down.

Foreigners, ruthless men from the nations, cut it down and left it lying. Its limbs fell on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. All the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it.

“This is what the Lord God says: I caused grieving on the day the cedar went down to Sheol. I closed off the underground deep because of it: I held back the rivers of the deep, and its abundant waters were restrained. I made Lebanon mourn on account of it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it.

I made the nations quake at the sound of its downfall, when I threw it down to Sheol to be with those who descend to the Pit. Then all the trees of Eden, all the well-watered trees, the choice and best of Lebanon, were comforted in the underworld.

“Who then are you like in glory and greatness among Eden’s trees? You also will be brought down to the underworld to be with the trees of Eden. You will lie among the uncircumcised with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his hordes”—the declaration of the Lord God.

When I make the land of Egypt a desolation,so that it is emptied of everything in it,when I strike down all who live there,then they will know that I am Yahweh.

“Son of man, wail over the hordes of Egypt and bring Egypt and the daughters of mighty nations down to the underworld, to be with those who descend to the Pit:

Who do you surpass in loveliness?Go down and be laid to rest with the uncircumcised!

Warrior leaders will speakfrom the middle of Sheolabout him and his allies:They have come down;the uncircumcised lieslain by the sword.

Elam is therewith all her hordes around her grave.All of them are slain, fallen by the sword—those who went down to the underworld uncircumcised,who once spread their terrorin the land of the living.They bear their disgracewith those who descend to the Pit.