'Land' in the Bible

Hear this, O elders,Listen closely, all inhabitants of the land!Has such a thing as this occurred in your days,Or even in the days of your fathers?

For a [pagan and hostile] nation has invaded My land [like locusts],Mighty and without number;Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,And it has the fangs of a lioness.

Consecrate a fast,Proclaim a solemn assembly,Gather the eldersAnd all the inhabitants of the landTo the house of the Lord your God,And cry out to the Lord [in penitent pleadings].

Blow the trumpet in Zion [warning of impending judgment],Sound an alarm on My holy mountain [Zion]!Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble and shudder in fear,For the [judgment] day of the Lord is coming;It is close at hand,

Before them a fire devours,And behind them a flame burns;Before them the land is like the Garden of Eden,But behind them a desolate wilderness;And nothing at all escapes them.

Then the Lord will be jealous for His land [ready to defend it since it is rightfully and uniquely His]And will have compassion on His people [and will spare them].

“But I will remove the northern army far away from you,And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land,With its forward guard into the eastern sea (Dead Sea)And with its rear guard into the western sea (Mediterranean Sea).And its stench will arise and its foul odor of decay will come up [this is the fate of the northern army in the final day of the Lord],For He has done great things.”

Do not fear, O land; be glad and rejoice,For the Lord has done great things!

I will gather together all the [Gentile] nations [that were hostile to My people]And bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat (the Lord has judged).And there I will deal with them and enter into judgment with them thereFor [their treatment of] My people, My inheritance, Israel,Whom they have scattered among the nations,And [because] they have encroached on My land and divided it up.

Egypt will become a waste,And Edom will become a desolate wilderness,Because of their violence against the children of Judah,In whose land they have shed innocent blood.