'City' in the Bible
Then the Devil took Him to the Holy City and caused Him to stand on the roof of the Temple,
nor by the earth, for it is the footstool under His feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the City of the Great King.
Knowing their thoughts He said to them, "Every kingdom in which civil war has raged suffers desolation; and every city or house in which there is internal strife will be brought low.
When He thus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was thrown into commotion, every one inquiring, "Who is this?"
So He left them and went out of the city to Bethany and passed the night there.
Early in the morning as He was on His way to return to the city He was hungry,
So the king's anger was stirred, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burnt their city.
nor let him who is outside the city stay to pick up his outer garment.
"Go into the city," He replied, "to a certain man, and tell him, 'The Teacher says, My time is close at hand. It is at your house that I shall keep the Passover with my disciples.'"
So after consulting together they spent the money in the purchase of the Potter's Field as a burial place for people not belonging to the city;
And coming out of their tombs after Christ's resurrection they entered the holy city and showed themselves to many.
While they went on this errand, some of the guards came into the city and reported to the High Priests every detail of what had happened.
When evening came on, Jesus and His disciples used to leave the city.
So He sent two of His disciples with instructions, saying, "Go into the city, and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water: follow him,
So the disciples went out and came to the city, and found everything just as He had told them; and they got the Passover ready.
"So the servant came and brought these answers to his master, and they stirred his anger. "'Go out quickly,' he said, 'into the streets of the city--the wide ones and the narrow. You will see poor men, and crippled, blind, lame: fetch them all in here.'
When He came into full view of the city, He wept aloud over it, and exclaimed,
Then let those who shall be in Judaea escape to the hills; let those who are in the city leave it, and those who are in the country not enter in.
"You will no sooner have entered the city," He replied, "than you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house to which he goes,
And all the crowds that had come together to this sight, after seeing all that had occurred, returned to the city beating their breasts.
Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered, "Are you a stranger lodging alone in Jerusalem, that you have known nothing of the things that have lately happened in the city?"
And remember that I am about to send out my Father's promised gift to rest upon you. But, as for you, wait patiently in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."
If we leave him alone in this way, everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will come and blot out both our city and our nation."
Many of the Jews read this notice, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the notice was in three languages--Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.
They entered the city, and they went up to the upper room which was now their fixed place for meeting. Their names were Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the brother of James.
"They did indeed assemble in this city in hostility to Thy holy Servant Jesus whom Thou hadst anointed--Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and also the tribes of Israel--
dragged him out of the city, and stoned him, the witnesses throwing off their outer garments and giving them into the care of a young man called Saul.
while Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed Christ there.
"But rise and go to the city, and you will be told what you are to do.
Henceforth Saul was one of them, going in and out of the city,
And passing through the first ward and the second, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. This opened to them of itself; and, going out, they passed on through one of the streets, and then suddenly the angel left him.
On the next Sabbath almost the whole population of the city came together to hear the Lord's Message.
But the Jews influenced the gentlewomen of rank who worshipped with them, and also the leading men in the city, and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of the district.
At length the people of the city split into parties, some siding with the Jews and some with the Apostles.
And the priest of Zeus--the temple of Zeus being at the entrance to the city--brought bullocks and garlands to the gates, and in company with the crowd was intending to offer sacrifices to them.
and thence to Philippi, which is a city in Macedonia, the first in its district, a Roman colony. And there we stayed some little time.
On the Sabbath we went beyond the city gate to the riverside, where we had reason to believe that there was a place for prayer; and sitting down we talked with the women who had come together.
Among our hearers was one named Lydia, a dealer in purple goods. She belonged to the city of Thyateira, and was a worshipper of the true God. The Lord opened her heart, so that she gave attention to what Paul was saying.
Then they brought them before the praetors. "These men," they said, "are creating a great disturbance in our city.
Accordingly they came and apologized to them; and, bringing them out, asked them to leave the city.
But the jealousy of the Jews was aroused, and, calling to their aid some ill-conditioned and idle fellows, they got together a riotous mob and filled the city with uproar. They then attacked the house of Jason and searched for Paul and Silas, to bring them out before the assembly of people.
But, failing to find them, they dragged Jason and some of the other brethren before the magistrates of the city, loudly accusing them. "These men," they said, "who have raised a tumult throughout the Empire, have come here also.
Great was the excitement among the crowd, and among the magistrates of the city, when they heard these charges.
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was stirred within him when he noticed that the city was full of idols.
I am with you, and no one shall attack you to injure you; for I have very many people in this city."
The riot and uproar spread through the whole city, till at last with one accord they rushed into the Theatre, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, two Macedonians who were fellow travellers with Paul.
At length the Recorder quieted them down. "Men of Ephesus," he said, "who is there of all mankind that needs to be told that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Diana and of the image which fell down from Zeus?
(For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and imagined that Paul had brought him into the Temple.)
The excitement spread through the whole city, and the people rushed in crowds to the Temple, and there laid hold of Paul and began to drag him out; and the Temple gates were immediately closed.
"I am a Jew," replied Paul, "belonging to Tarsus in Cilicia, and am a citizen of no unimportant city. Give me leave, I pray you, to speak to the people."
"I am a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I was carefully trained at the feet of Gamaliel in the Law of our forefathers, and, like all of you to-day, was zealous for God.
"And a certain Ananias, a pious man who obeyed the Law and bore a good character with all the Jews of the city,
and that neither in the Temple nor in the synagogues, nor anywhere in the city, did they find me disputing with any opponent or collecting a crowd about me.
and took their seats in the Judgement Hall, attended by the Tribunes and the men of high rank in the city; and, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.
Gaius, my host, who is also the host of the whole Church, greets you. So do Erastus, the treasurer of the city, and Quartus our brother.
I have served Him by frequent travelling, amid dangers in crossing rivers, dangers from robbers; dangers from my own countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles; dangers in the city, dangers in the Desert, dangers by sea, dangers from spies in our midst;
In Damascus the governor under King Aretas kept guards at the gates of the city in order to apprehend me,
for he continually looked forward to the city which has the foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
but, as it is, we see them eager for a better land, that is to say, a heavenly one. For this reason God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has now prepared a city for them.
On the contrary you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the ever-living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to countless hosts of angels,
For we have no permanent city here, but we are longing for the city which is soon to be ours.
Come, you who say, "To-day or to-morrow we will go to this or that city, and spend a year there and carry on a successful business,"
"'He who overcomes--I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of My God, and he shall never go out from it again. And I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which is to come down out of Heaven from My God, and My own new name.
But as for the court which is outside the sanctuary, pass it over. Do not measure it; for it has been given to the Gentiles, and for forty-two months they will trample the holy city under foot.
And their dead bodies are to lie in the broad street of the great city which spiritually is designated 'Sodom' and 'Egypt,' where indeed their Lord was crucified.
And just as that time there was a great earthquake, and a tenth part of the city was overthrown. 7,000 people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of Heaven.
And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and out of it came blood reaching the horses' bridles for a distance of 200 miles.
The great city was split into three parts; the cities of the nations fell; and great Babylon came into remembrance before God, for Him to make her drink from the wine-cup of His fierce anger.
And the woman whom you have seen is the great city which has kingly power over the kings of the earth."
while they stand afar off because of their terror at her heavy punishment, and say, 'Alas, alas, thou great city, O Babylon, the mighty city! For in one short hour thy doom has come!'
weeping aloud and sorrowing, and saying, 'Alas, alas, for this great city, which was brilliantly arrayed in fine linen, and purple and scarlet stuff, and beautified with gold, jewels and pearls;
stood afar off, and cried aloud when they saw the smoke of her burning. And they said, 'What city is like this great city?'
And they threw dust upon their heads, and cried out, weeping aloud and sorrowing. 'Alas, alas,' they said, 'for this great city, in which, through her vast wealth, the owners of all the ships on the sea have grown rich; because in one short hour she has been laid waste!'
Then a single angel of great strength took a stone which resembled a huge millstone, and hurled it into the sea, saying, "So shall Babylon, that great city, be violently hurled down and never again be found.
And they went up over the whole breadth of the earth and surrounded the encampment of God's people and the beloved city. But fire came down from Heaven and consumed them;
And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God and made ready like a bride attired to meet her husband.
So in the Spirit he carried me to the top of a vast, lofty mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God,
The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and engraved upon them were twelve names--the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
Now he who was speaking to me had a measuring-rod of gold, with which to measure the city and its gates and its wall.
The plan of the city is a square, the length being the same as the breadth; and he measured the city furlong by furlong, with his measuring rod--it is twelve hundred miles long, and the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
The solid fabric of the wall was jasper; and the city itself was made of gold, resembling transparent glass.
As for the foundation-stones of the city wall, which were beautified with various kinds of precious stones, the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius,
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each of them consisting of a single pearl. And the main street of the city was made of pure gold, resembling transparent glass.
I saw no sanctuary in the city, for the Lord God, the Ruler of all, is its Sanctuary, and so is the Lamb.
Nor has the city any need of the sun or of the moon, to give it light; for the glory of God has shone upon it and its lamp is the Lamb.
On either side of the river, midway between it and the main street of the city, was the Tree of Life. It produced twelve kinds of fruit, yielding a fresh crop month by month, and the leaves of the tree served as medicine for the nations.
"In future there will be no curse," he said, "but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in that city. And His servants will render Him holy service and will see His face,
Blessed are those who wash their robes clean, that they may have a right to the Tree of Life, and may go through the gates into the city.
and that if any one takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take from him his share in the Tree of Life and in the holy city--the things described in this book.