'Strongholds' in the Bible
The power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.
David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.
Then Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not hiding with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?
David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of Engedi.
Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” Then he answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword, and their little ones you will dash in pieces, and their women with child you will rip up.”
You have broken down all his walls;You have brought his strongholds to ruin.
He has stretched His hand out over the sea,He has made the kingdoms tremble;The Lord has given a command concerning Canaan to demolish its strongholds.
“Come down from your gloryAnd sit on the parched ground,O daughter dwelling in Dibon,For the destroyer of Moab has come up against you,He has ruined your strongholds.
“Kerioth has been capturedAnd the strongholds have been seized,So the hearts of the mighty men of Moab in that dayWill be like the heart of a woman in labor.
The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting,They stay in the strongholds;Their strength is exhausted,They are becoming like women;Their dwelling places are set on fire,The bars of her gates are broken.
The Lord has swallowed up; He has not sparedAll the habitations of Jacob.In His wrath He has thrown downThe strongholds of the daughter of Judah;He has brought them down to the ground;He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.
The Lord has become like an enemy.He has swallowed up Israel;He has swallowed up all its palaces,He has destroyed its strongholdsAnd multiplied in the daughter of JudahMourning and moaning.
Thus you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “As I live, surely those who are in the waste places will fall by the sword, and whoever is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die of pestilence.
In a time of tranquility he will enter the richest parts of the realm, and he will accomplish what his fathers never did, nor his ancestors; he will distribute plunder, booty and possessions among them, and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only for a time.