'Land' in the Bible

He announced, ‘Turn, each of you, from your evil way of life and from your evil deeds. Live in the land the Lord gave to you and your ancestors long ago and forever.

I am going to send for all the families of the north’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘and send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land, against its residents, and against all these surrounding nations, and I will completely destroy them and make them a desolation, a derision, and ruins forever.

This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.

When the 70 years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘the land of the Chaldeans, for their guilt, and I will make it a ruin forever.

I will bring on that land all My words I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book that Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.

and all the mixed peoples;all the kings of the land of Uz;all the kings of the land of the Philistines—Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;

“As for you, you are to prophesy all these things to them, and say to them:The Lord roars from heaven;He raises His voice from His holy dwelling.He roars loudly over His grazing land;He calls out with a shout, like those who tread grapes,against all the inhabitants of the earth.

Peaceful grazing land will become lifelessbecause of the Lord’s burning anger.

He has left His den like a lion,for their land has become a desolationbecause of the sword of the oppressor,because of His burning anger.

Some of the elders of the land stood up and said to all the assembled people,

Another man was also prophesying in the name of Yahweh—Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like all those of Jeremiah.

All nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until the time for his own land comes, and then many nations and great kings will enslave him.

for they prophesy a lie to you so that you will be removed from your land. I will banish you, and you will perish.

But as for the nation that will put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave it in its own land, and that nation will cultivate it and reside in it.” This is the Lord’s declaration.

for the days are certainly coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will restore them to the land I gave to their ancestors and they will possess it.”

As for you, My servant Jacob,do not be afraid—this is the Lord’s declaration—and do not be dismayed, Israel,for without fail I will save you from far away,your descendants, from the land of their captivity!Jacob will return and have calm and quietwith no one to frighten him.

Watch! I am going to bring them from the northern land.I will gather them from remote regions of the earth—the blind and the lame will be with them,along with those who are pregnant and those about to give birth.They will return here as a great assembly!

This is what the Lord says:Keep your voice from weepingand your eyes from tears,for the reward for your work will come—this is the Lord’s declaration—and your children will return from the enemy’s land.

How long will you turn here and there,faithless daughter?For the Lord creates something new in the land—a female will shelter a man.

This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “When I restore their fortunes, they will once again speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, ‘May the Lord bless you, righteous settlement, holy mountain.’

This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke even though I had married them”—the Lord’s declaration.

“Then my cousin Hanamel came to the guard’s courtyard as the Lord had said and urged me, ‘Please buy my field in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for you own the right of inheritance and redemption. Buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’

You performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and do so to this very day both in Israel and among mankind. You made a name for Yourself, as is the case today.

You gave them this land You swore to give to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.

I will take delight in them to do what is good for them, and with all My heart and mind I will faithfully plant them in this land.

Fields will be bought in this land about which you are saying, ‘It’s a desolation without man or beast; it has been handed over to the Chaldeans!’

a sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the groom and the bride, and the voice of those saying,Praise the Lord of Hosts,for the Lord is good;His faithful love endures foreveras they bring thank offerings to the temple of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as in former times, says the Lord.

“This is what the Lord of Hosts says: In this desolate place—without man or beast—and in all its cities there will once more be a grazing land where shepherds may rest flocks.

The flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them in the cities of the hill country, the cities of the Judean foothills, the cities of the Negev, the land of Benjamin—the cities surrounding Jerusalem and Judah’s cities, says the Lord.

In those days and at that timeI will cause a Righteous Branchto sprout up for David,and He will administer justiceand righteousness in the land.

“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, saying:

The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf

will be handed over to their enemies, to those who want to take their life. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.

However, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched into the land, we said: Come, let’s go into Jerusalem to get away from the Chaldean and Aramean armies. So we have been living in Jerusalem.”

Time and time again I have sent you all My servants the prophets, proclaiming: Turn, each one from his evil way of life, and correct your actions. Stop following other gods to serve them. Live in the land that I gave you and your ancestors. But you would not pay attention or obey Me.

You are to proclaim concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: This is what the Lord says: You have burned the scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written on it: The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and cause it to be without man or beast?’

Zedekiah son of Josiah reigned as king in the land of Judah in place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made him king.

He and his officers and the people of the land did not obey the words of the Lord that He spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.

“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: This is what you will say to Judah’s king, who is sending you to inquire of Me: Watch: Pharaoh’s army, which has come out to help you, is going to return to its own land of Egypt.

Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to claim his portion there among the people.

Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, claiming, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and this land’?

However, the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, arrested him, and brought him to Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon’s king, at Riblah in the land of Hamath. The king passed sentence on him there.

However, Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and he gave them vineyards and fields at that time.

Now pay attention: Today I am setting you free from the chains that were on your hands. If it pleases you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will take care of you. But if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, go no farther. Look—the whole land is in front of you. Wherever it seems good and right for you to go, go there.”

Jeremiah therefore went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah, and he stayed with him among the people who remained in the land.

When all the commanders of the armies in the field—they and their men—heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam over the land and that he had put him in charge of the men, women, and children from the poorest of the land who had not been deported to Babylon,

Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men, assuring them, “Don’t be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well for you.

they all returned from all the places where they had been banished and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and harvested a great amount of wine and summer fruit.

but then Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the 10 men who were with him got up and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword; he killed the one the king of Babylon had appointed in the land.

away from the Chaldeans. For they feared them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed in the land.

‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will rebuild and not demolish you, and I will plant and not uproot you, because I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought on you.

But if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ so as not to obey the voice of the Lord your God,

and if you say, ‘No, instead we’ll go to the land of Egypt where we will not see war or hear the sound of the ram’s horn or hunger for food, and we’ll live there,’

then the sword you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine you are worried about will follow on your heels there to Egypt, and you will die there.

So Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies did not obey the voice of the Lord to stay in the land of Judah.

Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies took the whole remnant of Judah, those who had returned from all the nations where they had been banished to live in the land of Judah for a while—

and they went to the land of Egypt because they did not obey the voice of the Lord. They went as far as Tahpanhes.

He will come and strike down the land of Egypt—those destined for death, to death; those destined for captivity, to captivity; and those destined for the sword, to the sword.

I will kindle a fire in the temples of Egypt’s gods, and he will burn them and take them prisoner. He will clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd picks lice off his garment, and he will leave there unscathed.

He will smash the sacred pillars of the sun temple in the land of Egypt and burn down the temples of the Egyptian gods.”

This is the word that came to Jeremiah for all the Jews living in the land of Egypt—at Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and in the land of Pathros:

You are provoking Me to anger by the work of your hands. You are burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to live for a while. As a result, you will be cut off and become an object of cursing and insult among all the nations of earth.

Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers, the evils of Judah’s kings, the evils of their wives, your own evils, and the evils of your wives that were committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

And I will take away the remnant of Judah, those who have resolved to go to the land of Egypt to live there for a while; they will meet their end. All of them in the land of Egypt will fall by the sword; they will meet their end by famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by the sword and by famine. Then they will become an object of cursing, scorn, execration, and disgrace.

I will punish those living in the land of Egypt just as I punished Jerusalem by sword, famine, and plague.

Then the remnant of Judah—those going to live for a while there in the land of Egypt—will have no fugitive or survivor to return to the land of Judah where they are longing to return to live, for they will not return except for a few fugitives.”

However, all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, all the women standing by—a great assembly—and all the people who were living in the land of Egypt at Pathros answered Jeremiah,

“As for the incense you burned in Judah’s cities and in Jerusalem’s streets—you, your fathers, your kings, your officials, and the people of the land—did the Lord not remember them? He brought this to mind.

The Lord can no longer bear your evil deeds and the detestable acts you have committed, so your land has become a waste, a desolation, and an object of cursing, without inhabitant, as you see today.

Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt.

“Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, all you Judeans who live in the land of Egypt: ‘I have sworn by My great name, says Yahweh, that My name will never again be invoked by anyone of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “As the Lord God lives.”

I am watching over them for disaster and not for good, and every man of Judah who is in the land of Egypt will meet his end by sword or famine until they are finished off.

Those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah only few in number, and the whole remnant of Judah, the ones going to the land of Egypt to live there for a while, will know whose word stands, Mine or theirs!

“This is what you are to say to him: ‘This is what the Lord says: What I have built I am about to demolish, and what I have planted I am about to uproot—the whole land!

That day belongs to the Lord, the God of Hosts,a day of vengeance to avenge Himselfagainst His adversaries.The sword will devour and be satisfied;it will drink its fill of their blood,because it will be a sacrifice to the Lord, the God of Hosts,in the northern land by the Euphrates River.

This is the word the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to defeat the land of Egypt:

He continues to stumble.Indeed, each falls over the other.They say, “Get up! Let’s return to our peopleand to the land of our birth,away from the sword that oppresses.”

But you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid,and do not be discouraged, Israel,for without fail I will save you from far awayand your descendants, from the land of their captivity!Jacob will return and have calm and quietwith no one to frighten him.

This is what the Lord says:Look, waters are rising from the northand becoming an overflowing wadi.They will overflow the land and everything in it,the cities and their inhabitants.The people will cry out,and every inhabitant of the land will wail.

“Judgment has come to the land of the plateau—to Holon, Jahzah, Mephaath,

Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the towns of the land of Moab, those far and near.

Joy and celebration are taken from the fertile fieldand from the land of Moab.I have stopped the flow of wine from the winepresses;no one will tread with shouts of joy.The shouting is not a shout of joy.

“Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. Indeed, I will chase Edom away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like Me? Who will summon Me? Who is the shepherd who can stand against Me?”

Therefore, hear the plans that the Lord has drawn up against Edom and the strategies He has devised against the people of Teman: The flock’s little lambs will certainly be dragged away, and their grazing land will be made desolate because of them.

The word the Lord spoke about Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:

For a nation from the north will come against her;it will make her land desolate.No one will be living in it—both man and beast will escape.

All who found them devoured them.Their adversaries said, “We’re not guilty;instead, they have sinned against the Lord,their righteous grazing land,the hope of their ancestors, the Lord.”

Escape from Babylon;depart from the Chaldeans’ land.Be like the rams that lead the flock.

your mother will be utterly humiliated;she who bore you will be put to shame.Look! She will lag behind all the nations—a dry land, a wilderness, an Arabah.

Cut off the sower from Babylonas well as him who wields the sickle at harvest time.Because of the oppressor’s sword,each will turn to his own people,each will flee to his own land.

Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “I am about to punish the king of Babylon and his land just as I punished the king of Assyria.

I will return Israel to his grazing land,and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan;he will be satisfiedin the hill country of Ephraim and of Gilead.

The sound of war is in the land—a great destruction.

The Lord opened His armoryand brought out His weapons of wrath,because it is a task of the Lord God of Hostsin the land of the Chaldeans.

“There is a voice of fugitives and those who escapefrom the land of Babylonannouncing in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,the vengeance for His temple.

A drought will come on her waters,and they will be dried up.For it is a land of carved images,and they go mad because of terrifying things.

“Look, it will be like a lion coming from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered grazing land. Indeed, I will chase Babylon away from her land in a flash. I will appoint whoever is chosen for her. For who is like Me? Who will summon Me? Who is the shepherd who can stand against Me?”

Therefore, hear the plans that the Lord has drawn up against Babylon and the strategies He has devised against the land of the Chaldeans: Certainly the flock’s little lambs will be dragged away; certainly the grazing land will be made desolate because of them.

I will send strangers to Babylonwho will scatter her and strip her land bare,for they will come against herfrom every side in the day of disaster.