'Cities' in the Bible

Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom.

and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

As they journeyed, there was a great terror upon the cities which were around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

Then let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and store up the grain for food in the cities under Pharaoh’s authority, and let them guard it.

So he gathered all the food of these seven years which occurred in the land of Egypt and placed the food in the cities; he placed in every city the food from its own surrounding fields.

As for the people, he removed them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s border to the other.

So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.

As for cities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses of the cities which are their possession.

What, therefore, belongs to the Levites may be redeemed and a house sale in the city of this possession reverts in the jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel.

But pasture fields of their cities shall not be sold, for that is their perpetual possession.

I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands.

I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas.

You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste.

How is the land in which they live, is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live, are they like open camps or with fortifications?

Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there.

So Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”

The Lord heard the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites; then they utterly destroyed them and their cities. Thus the name of the place was called Hormah.

Israel took all these cities and Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all her villages.

Then they burned all their cities where they lived and all their camps with fire.

Then they came near to him and said, “We will build here sheepfolds for our livestock and cities for our little ones;

but we ourselves will be armed ready to go before the sons of Israel, until we have brought them to their place, while our little ones live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.

Build yourselves cities for your little ones, and sheepfolds for your sheep, and do what you have promised.”

Our little ones, our wives, our livestock and all our cattle shall remain there in the cities of Gilead;

So Moses gave to them, to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben and to the half-tribe of Joseph’s son Manasseh, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og, the king of Bashan, the land with its cities with their territories, the cities of the surrounding land.

and Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran as fortified cities, and sheepfolds for sheep.

and Nebo and Baal-meon—their names being changed—and Sibmah, and they gave other names to the cities which they built.

“Command the sons of Israel that they give to the Levites from the inheritance of their possession cities to live in; and you shall give to the Levites pasture lands around the cities.

The cities shall be theirs to live in; and their pasture lands shall be for their cattle and for their herds and for all their beasts.

“The pasture lands of the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits around.

You shall also measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, with the city in the center. This shall become theirs as pasture lands for the cities.

The cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee to; and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities.

All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities, together with their pasture lands.

As for the cities which you shall give from the possession of the sons of Israel, you shall take more from the larger and you shall take less from the smaller; each shall give some of his cities to the Levites in proportion to his possession which he inherits.”

then you shall select for yourselves cities to be your cities of refuge, that the manslayer who has killed any person unintentionally may flee there.

The cities shall be to you as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands before the congregation for trial.

The cities which you are to give shall be your six cities of refuge.

You shall give three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan; they are to be cities of refuge.

These six cities shall be for refuge for the sons of Israel, and for the alien and for the sojourner among them; that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.

“Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may search out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up and the cities which we shall enter.’

Where can we go up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there.”’

So we captured all his cities at that time and utterly destroyed the men, women and children of every city. We left no survivor.

We took only the animals as our booty and the spoil of the cities which we had captured.

Only you did not go near to the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the river Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God had commanded us.

We captured all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates and bars, besides a great many unwalled towns.

But all the animals and the spoil of the cities we took as our booty.

all the cities of the plateau and all Gilead and all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

“So we took possession of this land at that time. From Aroer, which is by the valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead and its cities I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites.

But your wives and your little ones and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) shall remain in your cities which I have given you,

Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the east,

that a manslayer might flee there, who unintentionally slew his neighbor without having enmity toward him in time past; and by fleeing to one of these cities he might live:

“Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build,

“Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven,

“If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that

“When the Lord your God cuts off the nations, whose land the Lord your God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses,

you shall set aside three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which the Lord your God gives you to possess.

as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the handle and strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live;

Therefore, I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside three cities for yourself.’

if you carefully observe all this commandment which I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in His ways always—then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three.

“But if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities,

Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations nearby.

Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes.

then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one.

Then the sons of Israel set out and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon and Chephirah and Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim.

that he feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty.

but do not stay there yourselves; pursue your enemies and attack them in the rear. Do not allow them to enter their cities, for the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand.”

It came about when Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished slaying them with a very great slaughter, until they were destroyed, and the survivors who remained of them had entered the fortified cities,

They captured it and struck it and its king and all its cities and all the persons who were in it with the edge of the sword. He left no survivor, according to all that he had done to Eglon. And he utterly destroyed it and every person who was in it.

He captured it and its king and all its cities, and they struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed every person who was in it. He left no survivor. Just as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and its king, as he had also done to Libnah and its king.

Joshua captured all the cities of these kings, and all their kings, and he struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed them; just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded.

However, Israel did not burn any cities that stood on their mounds, except Hazor alone, which Joshua burned.

All the spoil of these cities and the cattle, the sons of Israel took as their plunder; but they struck every man with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They left no one who breathed.

Then Joshua came at that time and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab and from all the hill country of Judah and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities.

and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the border of the sons of Ammon;

Heshbon, and all its cities which are on the plain: Dibon and Bamoth-baal and Beth-baal-meon,

even all the cities of the plain and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses struck with the chiefs of Midian, Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the princes of Sihon, who lived in the land.

The border of the sons of Reuben was the Jordan. This was the inheritance of the sons of Reuben according to their families, the cities and their villages.

Their territory was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the sons of Ammon, as far as Aroer which is before Rabbah;

This is the inheritance of the sons of Gad according to their families, the cities and their villages.

Their territory was from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the towns of Jair, which are in Bashan, sixty cities;

also half of Gilead, with Ashtaroth and Edrei, the cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were for the sons of Machir the son of Manasseh, for half of the sons of Machir according to their families.

For the sons of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, and they did not give a portion to the Levites in the land, except cities to live in, with their pasture lands for their livestock and for their property.

Now then, give me this hill country about which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that Anakim were there, with great fortified cities; perhaps the Lord will be with me, and I will drive them out as the Lord has spoken.”

From the top of the mountain the border curved to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah and proceeded to the cities of Mount Ephron, then the border curved to Baalah (that is, Kiriath-jearim).

Now the cities at the extremity of the tribe of the sons of Judah toward the border of Edom in the south were Kabzeel and Eder and Jagur,

and Lebaoth and Shilhim and Ain and Rimmon; in all, twenty-nine cities with their villages.

and Shaaraim and Adithaim and Gederah and Gederothaim; fourteen cities with their villages.

and Gederoth, Beth-dagon and Naamah and Makkedah; sixteen cities with their villages.

and Keilah and Achzib and Mareshah; nine cities with their villages.

and Goshen and Holon and Giloh; eleven cities with their villages.

and Humtah and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), and Zior; nine cities with their villages.

Kain, Gibeah and Timnah; ten cities with their villages.

and Maarath and Beth-anoth and Eltekon; six cities with their villages.

Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), and Rabbah; two cities with their villages.

and Nibshan and the City of Salt and Engedi; six cities with their villages.

together with the cities which were set apart for the sons of Ephraim in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages.

The border went down to the brook of Kanah, southward of the brook (these cities belonged to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh), and the border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook and it ended at the sea.

But the sons of Manasseh could not take possession of these cities, because the Canaanites persisted in living in that land.

So the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities in seven divisions in a book; and they came to Joshua to the camp at Shiloh.