Walls, of the Cities

How Nave’s arranged it

• Of Bashan, destroyed by the IsraelitesDeuteronomy 3:5Deuteronomy 3:6
• Of JerichoJoshua 2:15Joshua 6
• Of Jerusalem
• See Jerusalem
• Of BabylonJeremiah 51:44
• BroadJeremiah 51:58
• Of Beth-shan1 Samuel 31:10
• Of Rabbah2 Samuel 11:20
• Of Abel2 Samuel 20:152 Samuel 20:21
• Houses built uponJoshua 2:15
• Double2 Kings 25:4Isaiah 22:11
• Sentinels on

The passages, in Bible order (15)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 15 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Deuteronomy 3:5

   All these cities were fortified with high walls and gates and bars, and there were many more unwalled villages.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 3:51 voice

   “All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars,.... That is, all the cities in the kingdom of Bashan; and though they were, it hindered not their falling into the hands of the Israelites; and this might serve to encourage them against those fears they were possessed of by the spies, with respect to the cities in the land of Canaan; see Num 13:28. besides unwalled towns a great many; small towns and villages adjacent to the several cities, as is common.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 3:5→

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2. Deuteronomy 3:6

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

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 3:61 voice

   “And we utterly destroyed them,.... Not the cities, but the inhabitants of them: as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon; they did not destroy his cities, for they took them and dwelt in them; but the people that lived there, as follows here: utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city; see Deu 2:34.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 3:6→

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3. Joshua 2:15

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

   ›Commentary on Joshua 2:151 voice

   “Then she let them down by a cord through the window,....

   Everything gathered on Joshua 2:15→

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4. Joshua 6:1

   Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

   ›Commentary on Joshua 6:12 voices

   “Now Jericho was straitly shut up, because of the children of Israel,....

   “This verse is strictly parenthetical. It is inserted to explain the declaration commenced Jos 5:14, and interrupted by Joshua’s question and obeisance Jos 5:14-15, but resumed in Jos 6:2. Straitly shut up - See the margin, i. e., not only shut, but barred and bolted.

   Everything gathered on Joshua 6:1→

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5. 1 Samuel 31:10

   They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and hung his body on the wall of Beth-shan.

   ›Commentary on 1 Samuel 31:101 voice

   “And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth,.... A temple dedicated to their deities, called by this name; of which See Gill on Jdg 2:13; Nothing was more common with the Gentiles than to place in their temples the arms they took from their enemies, as is strongly expressed by Homer (i) and Virgil (k); and indeed the Jews did the same, as appears by the sword of Goliath being laid up in the tabernacle, 1Sa 21:

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6. 2 Samuel 11:20

   if the king’s anger flares, he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Did you not realize they would shoot from atop the wall?

   ›Commentary on 2 Samuel 11:202 voices

   “We have taken up the task of writing an apology for the present style of the prophet David, not because he needs this gift, who has excelled in such great merits and flourished in virtues, but because many people, reading the sequence of his deeds without considering the power of the Scriptures or the hidden mysteries, wonder how such a great prophet did not avoid the contagion of adultery first and then of murder. Therefore, it was our desire to review the history itself, which seems to have been exposed to sin.

   “And if so be that the king's wrath arise,.... Which might be seen in his countenance, or expressed in his words: and he say, wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? as to expose the king's troops to the enemy on the wall, who by stones or darts greatly annoyed them, or sallied out on them, and killed many of them: knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall? they must have known that, and therefore should have kept out of the reach of their shot.

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7. 2 Samuel 20:15

   And Joab’s troops came and besieged Sheba in Abel-beth-maacah and built a siege ramp against the outer rampart of the city. As all the troops with Joab were battering the wall to topple it,

   ›Commentary on 2 Samuel 20:151 voice

   “And they came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmaachah,....

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8. 2 Samuel 20:21

   That is not the case. But a man named Sheba son of Bichri, from the hill country of Ephraim, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Deliver him alone, and I will depart from the city.” “Look,” the woman replied, “his head will be thrown to you over the wall.”

   ›Commentary on 2 Samuel 20:212 voices

   “The matter is not so,.... I am not come with the army against this city with any ill will to it, and with an intention to destroy it: the case is this: but a man of Mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name; for though he was by birth a Benjaminite, his dwelling was in Mount Ephraim in that tribe; unless there was a place of this name in the tribe of Benjamin, so called from any memorable event there, as the wood of Ephraim, 2Sa 18:

   “His head shall be thrown to thee - Thus it appears she had great sway in the counsels of the city; and that the punishment of a state rebel was then, what it is now in this kingdom, beheading.

   Everything gathered on 2 Samuel 20:21→

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9. 2 Kings 25:4

   Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,

   ›Commentary on 2 Kings 25:42 voices

   “The city was broken up - Rather, “broken into,” i. e., A breach was made about midnight in the northern wall Eze 9:2, and an entry effected into the second or lower city (see the 2Ki 22:14 note), which was protected by the wall of Manasseh 2Ch 33:14. Precipitate flight followed on the advance of the Babylonians to the “middle gate,” or gate of communication between the upper and the lower cities. This position was only a little north of the royal palace, which the king therefore quitted.

   “What think you of Nebuchadnezzar? Have you not heard from Scripture that he was bloodthirsty, fierce, with the disposition of a lion? Have you not heard that he disinterred the kings? Have you not heard that he brought the people away into captivity? Have you not heard that he put the king's sons to the sword before Zedekiah's eyes and then blinded him? Have you not heard that he shattered the cherubim?

   Everything gathered on 2 Kings 25:4→

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10. Isaiah 22:11

    You built a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider Him who planned it long ago.

    ›Commentary on Isaiah 22:112 voices

    “(Vers. 10, 11.) And you gathered the waters of the lower pool, and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you destroyed houses to fortify the wall. And you made a reservoir between the two walls, and the water of the Old Pool. And you did not look to the One who made it, and you did not see the One who fashioned it from afar.

    “And you made a lake, of the lower pool, to flow between the two walls, which encircled the city, and the water, namely, you have restored; nor regarded him, namely, God, that wrought it, the water: they have not called upon God (Ps 13:5[14:4]).

    Everything gathered on Isaiah 22:11→

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11. Jeremiah 51:44

    I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will make him spew out what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him; even the wall of Babylon will fall.

    ›Commentary on Jeremiah 51:442 voices

    "Theodore to the beloved brothers in Mount Nitria: priests, deacons and monks, greetings in the Lord. I want you to know that "the pride of" the Arians "has gone up" to God and that "God has visited his people and seeing the afflictions" that they …

    “And I will punish Bel in Babylon,.... The idol of the Babylonians, who had a temple in Babylon, where he was worshipped: the same is called Belus by Aelianus (g), Curtius (h), and Pausanias (i); perhaps the same Herodian (k) calls Belis, and says some take him to be Apollo; for more of him; see Gill on Isa 46:1; and See Gill on Jer 50:2; who was punished when his temple was demolished, and plundered of its wealth; this golden image of Belus was broke to pieces, and the gold of it carried away.

    Everything gathered on Jeremiah 51:44→

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12. Jeremiah 51:58

    This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Babylon’s thick walls will be leveled, and her high gates consumed by fire. So the labor of the people will be for nothing; the nations will exhaust themselves to fuel the flames.”

    ›Commentary on Jeremiah 51:582 voices

    “Thus saith the Lord of hosts,.... Because what follows might seem incredible ever to be effected; it is introduced with this preface, expressed by him who is the God of truth, and the Lord God omnipotent: the broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken; or rased up; the foundations of them, and the ground on which they stood made naked and bare, and open to public view; everyone of the walls, the inward and the outward, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it.

    “The broad walls of Babylon - Herodotus, who saw these walls, says, “The city was a regular square, each side of which was one hand red and twenty stadia, the circumference four hundred and eighty stadia. It was surrounded by a wall fifty cubits broad, and two hundred cubits high; and each side had twenty-five brazen gates.” - Herod. lib. 1 c. 178. Had not Cyrus resorted to stratagem, humanly speaking, he could not have taken this city. For the destruction of this wall and its very vestiges, see on Isa 13:19 (note).

    Everything gathered on Jeremiah 51:58→

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13. Revelation 21:12

    The city had a great and high wall with twelve gates inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and twelve angels at the gates.

    ›Commentary on Revelation 21:121 voice

    “In that he says there are three gates placed on each of the four sides, of single pearls, I think that these are the four virtues, to wit, prudence, fortitude, justice, temperance, which are associated with one another. And, being involved together, they make the number twelve. But the twelve gates we believe to be the number of the apostles, who, shining in the four virtues as precious stones, manifesting the light of their doctrine among the saints, cause it to enter the celestial city, that by intercourse with them the choir of angels may be gladdened.

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14. Revelation 21:14

    The wall of the city had twelve foundations bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

    ›Commentary on Revelation 21:142 voices

    “Having mentioned the patriarchs, he now mentions the apostles. Although we know that the church has but a single foundation, that is, Christ, it is not surprising that here it is said to have twelve [foundations]. In Christ the apostles have merited to be foundations …

    “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations,....

    Everything gathered on Revelation 21:14→

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15. Revelation 21:17–21

    And he measured its wall to be 144 cubits, by the human measure the angel was using.

    ›Commentary on Revelation 21:17–212 voices

    “Clearly in many passages an angel symbolizes the church. Since the church is gathered together from people and is lifted high by the promises of Christ, she hopes for equality with the angels and her every intent longs for their company, and for this reason …

    “The city which he says is squared, he says also is resplendent with gold and precious stones, and has a sacred street, and a river through the midst of it, and the tree of life on either side, bearing twelve manner of fruits throughout the twelve months; and that the light of the sun is not there, because the Lamb is the light of it; and that its gates were of single pearls; and that there were three gates on each of the four sides, and that they could not be shut.

    Everything gathered on Revelation 21:17–21→

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