'City' in the Bible

Cain was intimate with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain became the builder of a city, and he named the city Enoch after his son.

and Resen, between Nineveh and the great city Calah.

And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

Then the Lord came down to look over the city and the tower that the men were building.

So from there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city.

What if there are 50 righteous people in the city? Will You really sweep it away instead of sparing the place for the sake of the 50 righteous people who are in it?

The Lord said, “If I find 50 righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

suppose the 50 righteous lack five. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?”He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find 45 there.”

Before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, the whole population, surrounded the house.

Then the angels said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here: a son-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of this place,

So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were going to marry his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

At daybreak the angels urged Lot on: “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

But he hesitated. Because of the Lord’s compassion for him, the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters. Then they brought him out and left him outside the city.

Hurry up! Run there, for I cannot do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city is Zoar.

Ephron was sitting among the Hittites. So in the presence of all the Hittites who came to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham:

Abraham’s possession in the presence of all the Hittites who came to the gate of his city.

He called it Sheba. Therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day.

and named the place Bethel, though previously the city was named Luz.

After Jacob came from Paddan-aram, he arrived safely at Shechem in the land of Canaan and camped in front of the city.

So Hamor and his son Shechem went to the gate of their city and spoke to the men there.

On the third day, when they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and killed every male.

Jacob’s other sons came to the slaughter and plundered the city because their sister had been defiled.

They took their sheep, cattle, donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field.

Bela son of Beor ruled in Edom;the name of his city was Dinhabah.

When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad became king in his place.He defeated Midian in the field of Moab;the name of his city was Avith.

When Baal-hanan son of Achbor died, Hadar became king in his place.His city was Pau, and his wife’s name was Mehetabeldaughter of Matred daughter of Me-zahab.

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

They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Get up. Pursue the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good?

Then they tore their clothes, and each one loaded his donkey and returned to the city.

Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will extend my hands to Yahweh. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know the earth belongs to Yahweh.

Moses went out from Pharaoh and the city, and extended his hands to the Lord. Then the thunder and hail ceased, and rain no longer poured down on the land.

the priest must order that the stones with the contamination be pulled out and thrown into an unclean place outside the city.

He is to have the inside of the house completely scraped, and the plaster that is scraped off must be dumped in an unclean place outside the city.

It must be torn down with its stones, its beams, and all its plaster, and taken outside the city to an unclean place.

Then he is to release the live bird into the open countryside outside the city. In this way he will make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.

“If a man sells a residence in a walled city, his right of redemption will last until a year has passed after its sale; his right of redemption will last a year.

If it is not redeemed by the end of a full year, then the house in the walled city is permanently transferred to its purchaser throughout his generations. It is not to be released on the Jubilee.

Whatever property one of the Levites can redeem—a house sold in a city they possess—must be released at the Jubilee, because the houses in the Levitical cities are their possession among the Israelites.

When we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice, sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt. Now look, we are in Kadesh, a city on the border of your territory.

Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken control of all his land as far as the Arnon.

Therefore the poets say:Come to Heshbon, let it be rebuilt;let the city of Sihon be restored.

For fire came out of Heshbon,a flame from the city of Sihon.It consumed Ar of Moab,the lords of Arnon’s heights.

When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the Moabite city on the Arnon border at the edge of his territory.

The pasturelands of the cities you are to give the Levites will extend from the city wall 500 yards on every side.

Measure 1,000 yards outside the city for the east side, 1,000 yards for the south side, 1,000 yards for the west side, and 1,000 yards for the north side, with the city in the center. This will belong to them as pasturelands for the cities.

The assembly is to protect the one who kills someone from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge he fled to, and he must live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

“If the one who kills someone ever goes outside the border of the city of refuge he fled to,

and the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of his city of refuge and kills him, the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed,

for the one who killed a person was supposed to live in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may the one who has killed a person return to the land he possesses.

Neither should you accept a ransom for the person who flees to his city of refuge, allowing him to return and live in the land before the death of the high priest.

At that time we captured all his cities and completely destroyed the people of every city, including the women and children. We left no survivors.

There was no city that was inaccessible to us, from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead. The Lord our God gave everything to us.

We captured all his cities at that time. There wasn’t a city that we didn’t take from them: 60 cities, the entire region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

We completely destroyed them, as we had done to Sihon king of Heshbon, destroying the men, women, and children of every city.

that wicked men have sprung up among you, led the inhabitants of their city astray, and said, ‘Let us go and worship other gods,’ which you have not known,

you must strike down the inhabitants of that city with the sword. Completely destroy everyone in it as well as its livestock with the sword.

You are to gather all its spoil in the middle of the city square and completely burn up the city and all its spoil for the Lord your God. The city must remain a mound of ruins forever; it is not to be rebuilt.

the elders of his city must send for him, take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood and he will die.

“When you approach a city to fight against it, you must make an offer of peace.

But you may take the women, children, animals, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—as plunder. You may enjoy the spoil of your enemies that the Lord your God has given you.

“When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can get food from them. You must not cut them down. Are trees of the field human, to come under siege by you?

But you may destroy the trees that you know do not produce food. You may cut them down to build siege works against the city that is waging war against you, until it falls.

The elders of the city nearest to the victim are to get a young cow that has not been yoked or used for work.

The elders of that city will bring the cow down to a continually flowing stream, to a place not tilled or sown, and they will break its neck there by the stream.

All the elders of the city nearest to the victim will wash their hands by the stream over the young cow whose neck has been broken.

his father and mother must take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown.

They will say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he doesn’t obey us. He’s a glutton and a drunkard.’

Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

the young woman’s father and mother will take the evidence of her virginity and bring it to the city elders at the gate.

He has accused her of shameful conduct, saying: “I didn’t find any evidence of your daughter’s virginity,” but here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ They will spread out the cloth before the city elders.

Then the elders of that city will take the man and punish him.

they will bring the woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from you.

If there is a young woman who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man encounters her in the city and has sex with her,

you must take the two of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s fiancée. You must purge the evil from you.

But if the man doesn’t want to marry his sister-in-law, she must go to the elders at the city gate and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel. He isn’t willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me.’

The elders of his city will summon him and speak with him. If he persists and says, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’

You will be blessed in the cityand blessed in the country.

You will be cursed in the cityand cursed in the country.

the Negev, and the region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar.

Then she let them down by a rope through the window, since she lived in a house that was built into the wall of the city.

and the water flowing downstream stood still, rising up in a mass that extended as far as Adam, a city next to Zarethan. The water flowing downstream into the Sea of the Arabah (the Dead Sea) was completely cut off, and the people crossed opposite Jericho.

March around the city with all the men of war, circling the city one time. Do this for six days.

Have seven priests carry seven ram’s-horn trumpets in front of the ark. But on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the trumpets.

When there is a prolonged blast of the horn and you hear its sound, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the city wall will collapse, and the people will advance, each man straight ahead.”

He said to the people, “Move forward, march around the city, and have the armed troops go ahead of the ark of the Lord.”

So the ark of the Lord was carried around the city, circling it once. They returned to the camp and spent the night there.

On the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

Early on the seventh day, they started at dawn and marched around the city seven times in the same way. That was the only day they marched around the city seven times.

After the seventh time, the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.

But the city and everything in it are set apart to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and everyone with her in the house will live, because she hid the men we sent.

So the people shouted, and the trumpets sounded. When they heard the blast of the trumpet, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. The people advanced into the city, each man straight ahead, and they captured the city.

They completely destroyed everything in the city with the sword—every man and woman, both young and old, and every ox, sheep, and donkey.

They burned up the city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house.

At that time Joshua imposed this curse:The man who undertakesthe rebuilding of this city, Jericho,is cursed before the Lord.He will lay its foundationat the cost of his firstborn;he will set up its gatesat the cost of his youngest.

The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take the whole military force with you and go attack Ai. Look, I have handed over to you the king of Ai, his people, city, and land.

Treat Ai and its king as you did Jericho and its king; you may plunder its spoil and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”

He commanded them: “Pay attention. Lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it, and all of you be ready.

Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them.

They will come after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us as before.’ While we are fleeing from them,

you are to come out of your ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God has handed it over to you.