'Ground' in the Bible

Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David, bowed down to the ground and paid homage. David said, “Mephibosheth!”“I am your servant,” he replied.

You, your sons, and your servants are to work the ground for him, and you are to bring in the crops so your master’s grandson will have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, is always to eat at my table.” Now Ziba had 15 sons and 20 servants.

David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted, went home, and spent the night lying on the ground.

The elders of his house stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.

Then David got up from the ground. He washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes, went to the Lord’s house, and worshiped. Then he went home and requested something to eat. So they served him food, and he ate.

In response the king stood up, tore his clothes, and lay down on the ground, and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn.

When the woman from Tekoa came to the king, she fell with her face to the ground in homage and said, “Help me, my king!”

She replied, “Please, may the king invoke the Lord your God, so that the avenger of blood will not increase the loss, and they will not eliminate my son!”“As the Lord lives,” he vowed, “not a hair of your son will fall to the ground.”

We will certainly die and be like water poured out on the ground, which can’t be recovered. But God would not take away a life; He would devise plans so that the one banished from Him does not remain banished.

Joab fell with his face to the ground in homage and praised the king. “Today,” Joab said, “your servant knows I have found favor with you, my lord the king, because the king has granted the request of your servant.”

Joab went to the king and told him. So David summoned Absalom, who came to the king and bowed down with his face to the ground before him. Then the king kissed Absalom.

Then we will attack David wherever we find him, and we will descend on him like dew on the ground. Not even one will be left of all the men with him.

“You just saw him!” Joab exclaimed. “Why didn’t you strike him to the ground right there? I would have given you 10 silver pieces and a belt!”

Ahimaaz called out to the king, “All is well,” and then bowed down to the king with his face to the ground. He continued, “May the Lord your God be praised! He delivered up the men who rebelled against my lord the king.”

Amasa was not on guard against the sword in Joab’s hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach with it and spilled his intestines out on the ground. Joab did not stab him again for Amasa was dead. Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bichri.

but Eleazar stood his ground and attacked the Philistines until his hand was tired and stuck to his sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. Then the troops came back to him, but only to plunder the dead.

Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, so he went out and bowed to the king with his face to the ground.

and it was announced to the king, “Nathan the prophet is here.” He came into the king’s presence and bowed to him with his face to the ground.

Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, paying homage to the king, and said, “May my lord King David live forever!”

Then Solomon said, “If he is a man of character, not a single hair of his will fall to the ground, but if evil is found in him, he dies.”

While Obadiah was walking along the road, Elijah suddenly met him. When Obadiah recognized him, he fell with his face to the ground and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?”

So Ahab went to eat and drink, but Elijah went up to the summit of Carmel. He bowed down on the ground and put his face between his knees.

Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the waters, which parted to the right and left. Then the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

When the sons of the prophets from Jericho who were facing him saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him and bowed down to the ground in front of him.

She came, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; she picked up her son and left.

Jehu said to Bidkar his aide, “Pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember when you and I were riding side by side behind his father Ahab, and the Lord uttered this oracle against him:

Then Elisha said, “Take the arrows!” So he took them. Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground!” So he struck the ground three times and stopped.

The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times. Then you would have struck down Aram until you had put an end to them, but now you will only strike down Aram three times.”

He was with David at Pas-dammim when the Philistines had gathered there for battle. There was a portion of a field full of barley, where the troops had fled from the Philistines.

When David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell down with their faces to the ground.

David came to Ornan, and when Ornan looked and saw David, he left the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face to the ground.

but the word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and waged great wars. You are not to build a house for My name because you have shed so much blood on the ground before Me.

All the Israelites were watching when the fire descended and the glory of the Lord came on the temple. They bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground. They worshiped and praised the Lord:For He is good,for His faithful love endures forever.

Then Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord to worship Him.

When Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked for the large army, but there were only corpses lying on the ground; nobody had escaped.

Uzziah rested with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the burial ground of the kings’ cemetery, for they said, “He has a skin disease.” His son Jotham became king in his place.

Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and with their hands uplifted all the people said, “Amen, Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

You divided the sea before them,and they crossed through it on dry ground.You hurled their pursuers into the depthslike a stone into churning waters.

Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped,

Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense.

For distress does not grow out of the soil,and trouble does not sprout from the ground.

If its roots grow old in the groundand its stump starts to die in the soil,

His archers surround me.He pierces my kidneys without mercyand pours my bile on the ground.

A rope lies hidden for him on the ground,and a snare waits for him along the path.

As dry ground and heat snatch away the melted snow,so Sheol steals those who have sinned.

Iron is taken from the ground,and copper is smelted from ore.

He cuts a shaft far from human habitation,in places unknown to those who walk above ground.Suspended far away from people,the miners swing back and forth.

They are living on the slopes of the wadis,among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

She abandons her eggs on the groundand lets them be warmed in the sand.

may an enemy pursue and overtake me;may he trample me to the groundand leave my honor in the dust.Selah

They advance against me; now they surround me.They are determinedto throw me to the ground.

My foot stands on level ground;I will praise the Lord in the assemblies.

For we have sunk down to the dust;our bodies cling to the ground.

They were destroyed at En-dor;they became manure for the ground.

He turns rivers into desert,springs of water into thirsty ground,

For the enemy has pursued me,crushing me to the ground,making me live in darknesslike those long dead.

Teach me to do Your will,for You are my God.May Your gracious Spiritlead me on level ground.

When his breath leaves him,he returns to the ground;on that day his plans die.

The Lord helps the afflictedbut brings the wicked to the ground.

Thistles had come up everywhere,weeds covered the ground,and the stone wall was ruined.

I have seen slaves on horses,but princes walking on the ground like slaves.

People will go into caves in the rocksand holes in the ground,away from the terror of the Lordand from His majestic splendor,when He rises to terrify the earth.

Then her gates will lament and mourn;deserted, she will sit on the ground. >

Shining morning star,how you have fallen from the heavens!You destroyer of nations,you have been cut down to the ground.

Look, riders come—horsemen in pairs.”And he answered, saying,“Babylon has fallen, has fallen.All the images of her godshave been shattered on the ground.”

The high-walled fortress will be brought down,thrown to the ground, to the dust.

For He has humbled those who live in lofty places—an inaccessible city.He brings it down; He brings it down to the ground;He throws it to the dust.

I am not angry,but if it produces thorns and briers for Me,I will fight against it, trample it,and burn it to the ground.

You will be brought down;you will speak from the ground,and your words will come from low in the dust.Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground;your speech will whisper from the dust.

Then He will send rain for your seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.

The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shovel and fork.

for the ground of my peoplegrowing thorns and briers,indeed, for every joyous house in the joyful city.

the parched ground will become a pool of water,and the thirsty land springs of water.In the haunt of jackals, in their lairs,there will be grass, reeds, and papyrus.

Every valley will be lifted up,and every mountain and hill will be leveled;the uneven ground will become smoothand the rough places, a plain.

They are barely planted, barely sown,their stem hardly takes root in the groundwhen He blows on them and they wither,and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.

I will lead the blind by a way they did not know;I will guide them on paths they have not known.I will turn darkness to light in front of themand rough places into level ground.This is what I will do for them,and I will not forsake them.

For I will pour water on the thirsty landand streams on the dry ground;I will pour out My Spirit on your descendantsand My blessing on your offspring.

“Go down and sit in the dust,Virgin Daughter Babylon.Sit on the ground without a throne,Daughter Chaldea!For you will no longer be called pampered and spoiled.

Kings will be your foster fathers,and their queens your nursing mothers.They will bow down to youwith their faces to the ground,and lick the dust at your feet.Then you will know that I am Yahweh;those who put their hope in Mewill not be put to shame.

I will put it into the hands of your tormentors,who said to you:Lie down, so we can walk over you.You made your back like the ground,and like a street for those who walk on it. >

He grew up before Him like a young plantand like a root out of dry ground.He didn’t have an impressive formor majesty that we should look at Him,no appearance that we should desire Him.

I trampled the winepress alone,and no one from the nations was with Me.I trampled them in My angerand ground them underfoot in My fury;their blood spattered My garments,and all My clothes were stained.

I crushed nations in My anger;I made them drunk with My wrathand poured out their blood on the ground.

For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:Break up the unplowed ground;do not sow among the thorns.

Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: “Look, My anger—My burning wrath—is about to be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the tree of the field, and on the produce of the land. My wrath will burn and not be quenched.”

Gather up your belongings from the ground,you who live under siege.

Judah mourns;her gates languish.Her people are on the ground in mourning;Jerusalem’s cry rises up.

The ground is crackedsince no rain has fallen on the land.The farmers are ashamed;they cover their heads.

Those slain by the Lord on that day will be spread from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried. They will be like manure on the surface of the ground.

Come down from glory; sit on parched ground,resident of the daughter of Dibon,for the destroyer of Moab has come against you;he has destroyed your fortresses.

ב BetWithout compassion the Lord has swallowed upall the dwellings of Jacob.In His wrath He has demolishedthe fortified cities of Daughter Judah.He brought them to the groundand defiled the kingdom and its leaders.

ט TetZion’s gates have fallen to the ground;He has destroyed and shattered the bars on her gates.Her king and her leaders live among the nations,instruction is no more,and even her prophets receiveno vision from the Lord.

י YodThe elders of Daughter Zionsit on the ground in silence.They have thrown dust on their headsand put on sackcloth.The young women of Jerusalemhave bowed their heads to the ground.

שׁ ShinBoth young and oldare lying on the ground in the streets.My young men and womenhave fallen by the sword.You have killed them in the day of Your anger,slaughtering without compassion.

ו VavHe ground my teeth on graveland made me cower in the dust.

When I looked at the living creatures, there was one wheel on the ground beside each creature that had four faces.

I will tear down the wall you plastered with whitewash and knock it to the ground so that its foundation is exposed. The city will fall, and you will be destroyed within it. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

But it was uprooted in fury,thrown to the ground,and the east wind dried up its fruit.Its strong branches were torn off and dried up;fire consumed them.

For the blood she shed is still within her.She put it out on the bare rock;she didn’t pour it on the groundto cover it with dust.

He will trample all your streets with the hooves of his horses. He will slaughter your people with the sword, and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground.