'Cities' in the Bible

Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain and pitched his tents next to Sodom.

So he overthrew those cities and all that region, including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew from the ground.

So when God destroyed the cities of the region, God honored Abraham's request. He removed Lot from the midst of the destruction when he destroyed the cities Lot had lived in.

and they started on their journey. The surrounding cities were afraid of God, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

They should gather all the excess food during these good years that are coming. By Pharaoh's authority they should store up grain so the cities will have food, and they should preserve it.

Joseph collected all the excess food in the land of Egypt during the seven years and stored it in the cities. In every city he put the food gathered from the fields around it.

So they put foremen over the Israelites to oppress them with hard labor. As a result they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

As for the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities which they possess, the Levites must have a perpetual right of redemption.

Whatever someone among the Levites might redeem -- the sale of a house which is his property in a city -- must revert in the jubilee, because the houses of the cities of the Levites are their property in the midst of the Israelites.

Moreover, the open field areas of their cities must not be sold, because that is their perpetual possession.

I will bring on you an avenging sword, a covenant vengeance. Although you will gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you and you will be given into enemy hands.

I will lay your cities waste and make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will refuse to smell your soothing aromas.

I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste.

and whether the land they live in is good or bad, and whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or fortified cities,

But the inhabitants are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. 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 our hand, then we will utterly destroy their cities."

The Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of the place was called Hormah.

So Israel took all these cities; and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages.

Then they came very close to him and said, "We will build sheep folds here for our flocks and cities for our families,

So build cities for your descendants and pens for your sheep, but do what you have said you would do."

Our children, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock will be there in the cities of Gilead,

So Moses gave to the Gadites, the Reubenites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the realm of King Sihon of the Amorites, and the realm of King Og of Bashan, the entire land with its cities and the territory surrounding them.

Beth Nimrah, and Beth Haran as fortified cities, and constructed pens for their flocks.

Nebo, Baal Meon (with a change of name), and Sibmah. They renamed the cities they built.

So all of you approached me and said, "Let's send some men ahead of us to scout out the land and bring us back word as to how we should attack it and what the cities are like there."

What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage by describing people who are more numerous and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven itself! Moreover, they said they saw Anakites there."

At that time we seized all his cities and put every one of them under divine judgment, including even the women and children; we left no survivors.

We kept only the livestock and plunder from the cities for ourselves.

However, you did not approach the land of the Ammonites, the Wadi Jabbok, the cities of the hill country, or any place else forbidden by the Lord our God.

We captured all his cities at that time -- there was not a town we did not take from them -- sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the dominion of Og in Bashan.

All of these cities were fortified by high walls, gates, and locking bars; in addition there were a great many open villages.

But all the livestock and plunder from the cities we kept for ourselves.

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

This is the land we brought under our control at that time: The territory extending from Aroer by the Wadi Arnon and half the Gilead hill country with its cities I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites.

But your wives, children, and livestock (of which I know you have many) may remain in the cities I have given you.

Then Moses selected three cities in the Transjordan, toward the east.

Anyone who accidentally killed someone without hating him at the time of the accident could flee to one of those cities and be safe.

These cities are Bezer, in the desert plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for the Manassehites.

Then when the Lord your God brings you to the land he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you -- a land with large, fine cities you did not build,

Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so you can dispossess the nations there, people greater and stronger than you who live in large cities with extremely high fortifications.

Suppose you should hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you as a place to live, that

some evil people have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, saying, "Let's go and serve other gods" (whom you have not known before).

When the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land he is about to give you and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and houses,

you must set apart for yourselves three cities in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.

You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent of your land that the Lord your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities.

Suppose he goes with someone else to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose from the handle and strikes his fellow worker so hard that he dies. The person responsible may then flee to one of these cities to save himself.

Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.

and then you are careful to observe all these commandments I am giving you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways), then you must add three more cities to these three.

However, suppose a person hates someone else and stalks him, attacks him, kills him, and then flees to one of these cities.

This is how you are to deal with all those cities located far from you, those that do not belong to these nearby nations.

As for the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing to survive.

your elders and judges must go out and measure how far it is to the cities in the vicinity of the corpse.

So the Israelites set out and on the third day arrived at their cities -- Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim.

All Jerusalem was terrified because Gibeon was a large city, like one of the royal cities. It was larger than Ai and all its men were warriors.

But don't you delay! Chase your enemies and catch them! Don't allow them to retreat to their cities, for the Lord your God is handing them over to you."

Joshua and the Israelites almost totally wiped them out, but some survivors did escape to the fortified cities.

They captured it and put the sword to its king, all its surrounding cities, and all who lived in it; they left no survivors. As they had done at Eglon, they annihilated it and all who lived there.

They captured it, its king, and all its surrounding cities and put the sword to them. They annihilated everyone who lived there; they left no survivors. They did to Debir and its king what they had done to Libnah and its king and to Hebron.

Joshua captured all these royal cities and all their kings and annihilated them with the sword, as Moses the Lord's servant had commanded.

But Israel did not burn any of the cities located on mounds, except for Hazor; it was the only one Joshua burned.

The Israelites plundered all the goods of these cities and the cattle, but they totally destroyed all the people and allowed no one who breathed to live.

At that time Joshua attacked and eliminated the Anakites from the hill country -- from Hebron, Debir, Anab, and all the hill country of Judah and Israel. Joshua annihilated them and their cities.

and all the cities of King Sihon of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon, and ended at the Ammonite border.

Heshbon and all its surrounding cities on the plain, including Dibon, Bamoth Baal, Beth Baal Meon,

It encompassed all the cities of the plain and the whole realm of King Sihon of the Amorites who ruled in Heshbon. Moses defeated him and the Midianite leaders Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba (they were subjects of Sihon and lived in his territory).

The border of the tribe of Reuben was the Jordan. The land allotted to the tribe of Reuben by its clans included these cities and their towns.

Their territory included Jazer, all the cities of Gilead, and half of Ammonite territory as far as Aroer near Rabbah.

The land allotted to the tribe of Gad by its clans included these cities and their towns.

Their territory started at Mahanaim and encompassed all Bashan, the whole realm of King Og of Bashan, including all sixty cities in Havvoth Jair in Bashan.

Half of Gilead, Ashtaroth, and Edrei, cities in the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were assigned to the descendants of Makir son of Manasseh, to half the descendants of Makir by their clans.

The descendants of Joseph were considered as two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. The Levites were allotted no territory, though they were assigned cities in which to live, along with the grazing areas for their cattle and possessions.

Now, assign me this hill country which the Lord promised me at that time! No doubt you heard at that time that the Anakites live there in large, fortified cities. But, assuming the Lord is with me, I will conquer them, as the Lord promised."

It then went from the top of the hill to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah, extended to the cities of Mount Ephron, and went to Baalah (that is, Kiriath Jearim).

These cities were located at the southern extremity of Judah's tribal land near the border of Edom: Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur,

Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon -- a total of twenty-nine cities and their towns.

These cities were in the lowlands: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah,

Shaaraim, Adithaim, and Gederah (or Gederothaim) -- a total of fourteen cities and their towns.

Gederoth, Beth Dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah -- a total of sixteen cities and their towns.

Keilah, Aczib, and Mareshah -- a total of nine cities and their towns.

These cities were in the hill country: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh,

Goshen, Holon, and Giloh -- a total of eleven cities and their towns.

Humtah, Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), and Zior -- a total of nine cities and their towns.

Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah -- a total of ten cities and their towns.

Maarath, Beth Anoth, and Eltekon -- a total of six cities and their towns.

Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim) and Rabbah -- a total of two cities and their towns.

These cities were in the desert: Beth Arabah, Middin, Secacah,

Nibshan, the city of Salt, and En Gedi -- a total of six cities and their towns.

Also included were the cities set apart for the tribe of Ephraim within Manasseh's territory, along with their towns.

The border then descended southward to the Valley of Kanah. Ephraim was assigned cities there among the cities of Manasseh, but the border of Manasseh was north of the valley and ended at the sea.

Within Issachar's and Asher's territory Manasseh was assigned Beth Shean, Ibleam, the residents of Dor, En Dor, the residents of Taanach, the residents of Megiddo, the three of Napheth, and the towns surrounding all these cities.

But the men of Manasseh were unable to conquer these cities; the Canaanites managed to remain in those areas.

The men journeyed through the land and mapped it and its cities out into seven regions on a scroll. Then they came to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh.

These cities belonged to the tribe of Benjamin by its clans: Jericho, Beth Hoglah, Emek Keziz,

Kephar Ammoni, Ophni, and Geba -- a total of twelve cities and their towns.

Zelah, Haeleph, the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath -- a total of fourteen cities and their towns. This was the land assigned to the tribe of Benjamin by its clans.

Beth Lebaoth, and Sharuhen -- a total of thirteen cities and their towns,

Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan -- a total of four cities and their towns,

as well as all the towns around these cities as far as Baalath Beer (Ramah of the Negev). This was the land assigned to the tribe of Simeon by its clans.

Their territory included Kattah, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem; in all they had twelve cities and their towns.

This was the land assigned to the tribe of Zebulun by its clans, including these cities and their towns.