'Ruins' in the Bible

Then you shall collect all its spoil (plunder) into the middle of its open square and burn the city and set fire to the spoil as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall be a ruin forever. It shall not be built again.

So Joshua burned Ai and made it a rubbish heap forever, a desolation until this day.

This house (temple) will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will be appalled and sneer and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this house?’

In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their surrounding ruins,

For we are slaves; yet our God has not abandoned us in our bondage, but has extended lovingkindness to us before the kings of Persia, to revive us to rebuild the house of our God, to repair the site of its ruins and to give us a wall [of protection] in Judah and Jerusalem.

Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation that we are in—how Jerusalem is desolate and lies in ruins and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, and let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.”

With kings and counselors of the earth,Who built up [now desolate] ruins for themselves;

And he has lived in desolate [God-forsaken] cities,In houses which no one should inhabit,Which were destined to become heaps [of ruins];

“However, does not one falling in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand?Or in his disaster [will he not] therefore cry out for help?

The enemy has been cut off and has vanished in everlasting ruins,You have uprooted their cities;The very memory of them has perished.

Turn your footsteps [quickly] toward the perpetual ruins;The enemy has damaged everything within the sanctuary.

O God, the nations have invaded [the land of Your people] Your inheritance;They have defiled Your sacred temple;They have laid Jerusalem in ruins.

For Your servants find [melancholy] pleasure in the stones [of her ruins]And feel pity for her dust.

The foolishness of man undermines his way [ruining whatever he undertakes];Then his heart is resentful and rages against the Lord [for, being a fool, he blames the Lord instead of himself].

When a man takes hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying,“You have a robe, you shall be our judge and ruler,And this pile of ruins will be under your control,”

Then the lambs will graze [among the ruins] as in their own pasture,And strangers will eat in the desolate places of the [exiled] wealthy.

Therefore Moab will wail for Moab; everyone will wail.You will mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth,As those who are utterly stricken and discouraged.

The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning Damascus [capital of Aram (Syria), and Israel’s defense against Assyria].“Listen carefully, Damascus will cease to be a cityAnd will become a fallen ruin.

In the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in,And in the morning you bring your seed to blossom;Yet [promising as it is] the harvest will be a heap [of ruins that passes away]In the day of sickness and incurable pain.

Confirming the word of His servantAnd carrying out the plan of His messengers.It is I who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall [again] be inhabited!’And of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall [again] be built.’And I will raise up and restore her ruins.

“And your people will rebuild the ancient ruins;You will raise up and restore the age-old foundations [of buildings that have been laid waste];You will be called Repairer of the Breach,Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins,They will raise up and restore the former desolations;And they will renew the ruined cities,The desolations (deserted settlements) of many generations.

Our holy and beautiful house [the temple built by Solomon],Where our fathers praised You,Has been burned by fire;And all our precious objects are in ruins.

“The young lions have roared at him,They have made their voices heard and roared loudly.And they have made his land a waste;His cities have been destroyed and are burned ruins, without inhabitant.

“A lion has left his lair,And a destroyer of nations is on his way.He has gone out from his placeTo desolate your land;Your cities will be in ruinsWithout an inhabitant.

“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,A haunt and dwelling place of jackals;And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

“Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts,“Zion will be plowed like a field,And Jerusalem will become [heaps of] ruins,And the mountain of the house [of the Lord—Mount Moriah, on which stands the temple, shall become covered not with buildings, but] like a densely wooded height.”’

“O vines of Sibmah, I will weep for youMore than the weeping of Jazer [over its ruins and wasted vineyards].Your tendrils [of influence] stretched across the sea,Reaching [even] to the sea of Jazer.The destroyer has fallenOn your summer fruits and your [season’s] crop of grapes.

“Babylon will become a heap [of ruins], a haunt and dwelling place of jackals,An object of horror (an astonishing desolation) and a hissing [of scorn and amazement], without inhabitants.

The Lord has become like an enemy;He has swallowed up Israel.He has swallowed up all its palaces;He has destroyed its strongholdsAnd multiplied in the Daughter of JudahMourning and lamentation (expressions of grief).

The Lord determined to lay in ruinsThe [city] wall of the Daughter of Zion.He has stretched out a line,He has not stopped His hand from destroying.He has caused the rampart and the wall to lament (mourn in grief);They have languished together.

O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among the ruins.

All the birds of the sky will nest in its ruins, and all the animals of the field will rest on its fallen branches

The seeds [of grain] shrivel under the clods,The storehouses are desolate and empty,The barns are in ruinsBecause the grain is dried up.

For behold, the Lord is going to command that the great house be smashed to pieces and the small house to fragments.

“In that day I shall raise up and restore the fallen tabernacle (booth) of David,And wall up its breaches [in the city walls];I will also raise up and restore its ruinsAnd rebuild it as it was in the days of old,

Therefore, on account of youZion shall be plowed like a field,Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,And the mountain of the house [of the Lord] shall become like a densely wooded hill.

“I [the Lord] have cut off and destroyed nations [as a warning to Judah];Their corner towers (battlements) are in ruins.I have made their streets desolateSo that no one passes by;Their cities are destroyedSo that there is no man, there is no inhabitant.

“Is it time for you yourselves to live in your [expensive] paneled houses while this house [of the Lord] lies in ruins?”

For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world [wealth, fame, success], and loses or forfeits himself?

‘After these things I will return,And I will rebuild the tent of David which has fallen;I will rebuild its ruins,And I will restore it,