'Stronghold' in the Bible

and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this mountain stronghold [with stones laid down] in an orderly way. Then take the second bull and offer a burnt sacrifice using the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.”

When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem heard about it, they entered the inner chamber (stronghold) of the temple of El-berith (the god of a covenant).

So everyone of the people also cut down his branch and followed Abimelech, and they put the branches on top of the inner chamber and set it on fire over those inside, so that all the people in the Tower of Shechem also died, about a thousand men and women.

Then he left them with the king of Moab; and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.

Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; leave, and go into the land of Judah.” So David left and went into the forest of Hereth.

David gave Saul his oath; and Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the mountain stronghold.

Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold (fortress) of Zion, that is, the City of David.

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.

When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to look for him, but he heard about it and went down to the stronghold.

My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge,My Savior—You save me from violence.

David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

and they came to the stronghold of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to Beersheba.

When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the fortress of the king’s palace; and while inside, he set fire to the king’s palace and died,

Then the Jebusites said to David, “You shall not come in here.” But David captured the stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David).

Then David lived in the stronghold; so it was called the City of David.

David was then in the stronghold, while the garrison of the Philistines was in Bethlehem.

Courageous men from the Gadites came over to David in the stronghold in the wilderness, men trained for war, who could handle shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and who were swift as gazelles on the mountains.

Then some of the men of Benjamin and Judah came to the stronghold to David.

Then Ezra said to them, “Go [your way], eat the rich festival food, drink the sweet drink, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be worried, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and your stronghold.”

“On the cliff he dwells and remains [securely],Upon the point of the rock and the inaccessible stronghold.

The Lord also will be a refuge and a stronghold for the oppressed,A refuge in times of trouble;

The Lord is my light and my salvation—Whom shall I fear?The Lord is the refuge and fortress of my life—Whom shall I dread?

The Lord is their [unyielding] strength,And He is the fortress of salvation to His anointed.

You will draw me out of the net that they have secretly laid for me,For You are my strength and my stronghold.

But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;He is their refuge and stronghold in the time of trouble.

For You are the God of my strength [my stronghold—in whom I take refuge]; why have You rejected me?Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

The Lord of hosts is with us;The God of Jacob is our stronghold [our refuge, our high tower]. Selah.

God, in her palaces,Has made Himself known as a stronghold.

“Look, [this is] the man who would not make God his strength [his stronghold and fortress],But trusted in the abundance of his riches,Taking refuge in his wealth.”

Be to me a rock of refuge and a sheltering stronghold to which I may continually come;You have given the commandment to save me,For You are my rock and my fortress.

“Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine;Ephraim also is the helmet of My head [My stronghold, My defense];Judah is My scepter.

The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the upright,But it is ruin to those who do evil.

A wise man scales the city [walls] of the mightyAnd brings down the stronghold in which they trust.

Because you [Judah] have forgotten the God of your salvationAnd have not remembered the Rock of your Stronghold—Therefore you plant lovely plantsAnd set the grounds with vine slips of a strange god,

Be ashamed, O Sidon [mother-city of Tyre, now like a widow bereaved of her children];For the sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea, saying,“I have neither labored nor given birth [to children];I have neither brought up young men nor reared virgins.”

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,For your stronghold [of Tyre] is destroyed.

For You have been a stronghold for the helpless,A stronghold for the poor in his distress,A shelter from the storm, a shade from the heat;For the breath of tyrantsIs like a rainstorm against a wall.

And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel (Jerusalem),Even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her,Will be like a dream, a vision of the night.

Who proceed down to EgyptWithout consulting Me,To take refuge in the stronghold of PharaohAnd to take shelter in the shadow of Egypt!

“His rock [his stronghold] will pass away because of panic,And his princes will be terrified at the [sight of the battle] standard,”Declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

[Then said Jeremiah] “O Lord, my Strength and my Stronghold,And my Refuge in the day of distress and need,The nations will come to YouFrom the ends of the earth and say,‘Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies and illusion,[Worthless] things in which there is no benefit!’

“Though Babylon should ascend to the heavens,And though she should fortify her lofty stronghold,Yet destroyers will come on her from Me,” says the Lord.

‘As for you, son of man, on the day when I take their strength and their stronghold from them, their joy and their glory, the desire of their eyes and their heart’s [chief] delight (the temple), and I also take their sons and their daughters,

“I will pour out My wrath on Pelusium,The stronghold of Egypt,And I will cut off (destroy) the population of Thebes.

Armed forces of his will arise [in Jerusalem] and defile and desecrate the sanctuary, the [spiritual] stronghold, and will do away with the regular sacrifice [that is, the daily burnt offering]; and they will set up [a pagan altar in the sanctuary which is] the abomination of desolation.

The Lord thunders and roars from ZionAnd utters His voice from Jerusalem [in judgment of His enemies],And the heavens and the earth tremble and shudder;But the Lord is a refuge for His peopleAnd a stronghold [of protection] to the children of Israel.

“As for you [Jerusalem], tower of the flock [of Israel],Hill and stronghold of the Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem’s inhabitants),To you the former dominion shall come,The kingdom of the Daughter of Jerusalem [when the Messiah reigns in Jerusalem, and the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled].

The Lord is good,A strength and stronghold in the day of trouble;He knows [He recognizes, cares for, and understands fully] those who take refuge and trust in Him.

“They make fun of kingsAnd rulers are a laughing matter to them.They ridicule every strongholdAnd heap up rubble [for earth mounds] and capture it.

For Tyre built herself an [impregnable] stronghold [on an island offshore],And she has heaped up silver like dustAnd gold like the mire of the streets.

Return to the stronghold [of security and prosperity], O prisoners who have the hope;Even today I am declaring that I will restore double [your former prosperity] to you [as firstborn among nations].