'Hills' in the Bible
The waters prevailed so greatly and were so mighty and overwhelming on the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered.
[In fact] the waters became fifteen cubits higher [than the highest ground], and the mountains were covered.
The waters continued to decrease until the tenth month; on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains were seen.
“The blessings of your fatherAre greater than the blessings of my ancestors [Abraham and Isaac]Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills;They shall be on the head of Joseph,Even on the crown of the head of him who was the distinguished one and the one who is prince among (separate from) his brothers.
“For from the top of the rocks I see Israel,And from the hills I look at him.Behold, the people [of Israel] shall dwell aloneAnd will not be reckoned among the nations.
For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills;
a land where you will eat bread without shortage, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.
But the land into which you are about to cross to possess, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven,
You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and the hills and under every green [leafy] tree.
“With the best things of the ancient mountains,And with the precious things of the everlasting hills,
According to the command of the Lord they gave him the city for which he asked—Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. So he built the city and settled in it.
Now the servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Israel’s god is a god of the hills; that is why they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they.
A man of God approached and said to the king of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because the Arameans have said, “The Lord is a god of the hills, but He is not a god of the valleys,” I will give this great army into your hand, and you shall know [by experience] that I am the Lord.’”
And he said,“I saw all IsraelScattered upon the mountains,Like sheep that have no shepherd.And the Lord said,‘These have no master.Let each of them return to his house in peace.’”
He also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.
He also built towers in the wilderness and dug many cisterns, for he had a great deal of livestock, both in the lowlands and in the plain. He also had farmers and vinedressers in the hill country and in the fertile fields, for he loved the soil.
He also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places [of pagan worship], on the hills and under every green tree.
So they proclaimed and published an announcement in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hills and bring olive branches, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy branches to make booths, as it is written.”
“Were you the first man to be born [the original wise man],Or were you created before the hills?
“For every beast of the forest is Mine,And the cattle on a thousand hills.
The pastures of the wilderness drip [with dew],And the hills are encircled with joy.
The mountains will bring peace and prosperity to the people,And the hills, in [the establishment of] righteousness.
In whose hand are the depths of the earth;The peaks of the mountains are His also.
The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord,At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
Let the rivers clap their hands;Let the mountains sing together for joy and delight
The mountains leaped like rams,The [little] hills, like lambs.
O mountains, that you leap like rams,O [little] hills, like lambs?
I will lift up my eyes to the hills [of Jerusalem]—From where shall my help come?
It is like the dew of [Mount] HermonComing down on the hills of Zion;For there the Lord has commanded the blessing: life forevermore.
“Before the mountains were settled,Before the hills, I was born;
(The Shulammite Bride)“Listen! My beloved!Behold, he comes,Climbing on the mountains,Leaping and running on the hills!
Now it will come to pass thatIn the last daysThe mountain of the house of the LordWill be [firmly] established as the highest of the mountains,And will be exalted above the hills;And all the nations will stream to it.
Against all the high mountains,Against all the hills that are lifted up,
As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the pick and the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place where oxen are pastured and where sheep tread.
“Then it will sweep on into Judah; it will overflow and pass through [the hills],Reaching even to the neck [of which Jerusalem is the head],And its outstretched wings (the armies of Assyria) will fill the width of Your land, O Immanuel.
For so the Lord says to me,“As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey,And though a large group of shepherds is called out against himHe will not be terrified at their voice nor cringe at their noise,So the Lord of hosts will come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill.”
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,And marked off the heavens with a span [of the hand],And calculated the dust of the earth with a measure,And weighed the mountains in a balanceAnd the hills in a pair of scales?
“In fact, I have made of you a new, sharp threshing implement with sharp edges;You will thresh the mountains and crush them,And make the hills like chaff.
“I will lay waste the mountains and hillsAnd wither all their vegetation;I will turn the rivers into coastlandsAnd dry up the ponds.
Saying to those who are bound and captured, ‘Go forth,’And to those who are in [spiritual] darkness, ‘Show yourselves [come into the light of the Savior].’They will feed along the roads [on which they travel],And their pastures will be on all the bare heights.
“For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you,Nor will My covenant of peace be shaken,”Says the Lord who has compassion on you.
“For you will go out [from exile] with joyAnd be led forth [by the Lord Himself] with peace;The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Both your own wickedness and the wickedness of your fathers,” says the Lord.“Since they too have made offerings with incense on the mountainsAnd scorned and taunted Me on the hills,I therefore will measure [punishment for] their former work [directly] into their arms.”
“Truly, [the hope of salvation from] the hill [where idols are worshiped] is a deception,A tumult and noisy multitude on the mountains;Truly in the Lord our GodIs the salvation of Israel.
I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were trembling,And all the hills moved back and forth.
“I have seen your vile and detestable acts,Even your adulteries and your lustful neighings [after idols],And the lewdness of your prostitutionOn the hills in the fields.Woe (judgment is coming) to you, O Jerusalem!How long will you remain unclean [by ignoring My precepts]?”
As they remember their children,So they remember [in detail] their [pagan] altars and their AsherimBeside green trees on the high hills.
“Go up [north] to Lebanon and cry out,And raise your voice in [the hills of] Bashan [across the Jordan];Cry out also from Abarim,For all your lovers (allies) have been destroyed.
“For there will be a day when the watchmenOn the hills of Ephraim cry out,‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion,To the Lord our God.’”
And I will bring Israel [home] again to his pasture and he will graze on [the most fertile lands of] Carmel [in the west] and Bashan [in the east], and his soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.
and say, ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: “Behold, I Myself am going to bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places [of idolatrous worship],
I will fill its mountains with its slain; those killed by the sword will fall on your hills, and in your valleys, and in all your ravines.
Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate ruins and to the deserted cities which have become prey and a mockery to the rest of the nations which surround you,
Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy (love for that which is Mine) and in My wrath because you have endured the [shameful] insults of the nations.’
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountainsAnd burn incense on the hills,Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths,Because the shade is pleasant there.Therefore your daughters play the prostituteAnd your brides commit adultery.
Blow the horn in Gibeah,The trumpet in Ramah [the lofty hills on Benjamin’s northern border].Sound the alarm at Beth-aven:“Behind you and coming after you [is the enemy], O Benjamin [be on guard]!”
Also the high places of Aven (Beth-aven), the sin of Israel, will be destroyed;The thorn and the thistle will grow on their [pagan] altars,And [in despair] they will say to the mountains,“Cover us!” And to the hills, “Fall on us!”
And in that dayThe mountains will drip with sweet wineAnd the hills will flow with milk;And all the brooks and riverbeds of Judah will flow with water,And a fountain will go out from the house of the LordTo water the [desert] Valley of Shittim.
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,“When the plowman shall overtake the one who gathers the harvest,And the one who treads the grapes [shall overtake] him who sows the seed [for the harvest continues until planting time];When the mountains will drip sweet wineAnd all the hills shall melt [that is, everything that was once barren will overflow with streams of blessing].
But it shall come about in the last daysThat the mountain of the house of the LordShall be established as the highest and chief of the mountains;It shall be above the hills,And peoples shall flow [like a river] to it.
Hear now what the Lord is saying,“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,And let the hills [as witnesses] hear your voice.
The mountains quake before HimAnd the hills melt away;Indeed the earth is shaken by His presence—Yes, the world and all that dwell in it.
He stood and measured the earth;He looked and startled the nations,Yes, the eternal mountains were shattered,The ancient hills bowed low and collapsed.His ways are eternal.
“On that day,” declares the Lord,“There will be the sound of crying from the Fish (Damascus) Gate [in the northern wall of Jerusalem where invaders enter]And wailing from the Second Quarter [of the city],And a loud crash from the hills.