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 3:52 voices

   “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.

   “Gates, and bars - literally, “Double gates and a bar.” The stone doors of Bashan, their height pointing to a race of great stature, and the numerous cities (deserted) exist to illustrate the statements of these verses.

   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.

   Verse page →Original language →

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

   “Upon the town wall - The town wall probably formed the back wall of the house, and the window opened therefore into the country. (Compare Paul’s escape, 2Co 11:33).

   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

   “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.

   “It did shut up, and it was shut up (so it is in the margin); it did shut up itself, being strongly fortified both by art and nature, and it was shut up by the obstinacy and resolution of the inhabitants, who agreed never to surrender nor so much as sound a parley; none went out as deserters or to treat of peace, nor were any admitted in to offer peace.

   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 31:102 voices

   “There was also a special providence of God, in taking away Jonathan, (who of all Saul's sons, seems to have been the fairest for the crown) for preventing divisions, which might have happened amongst the people concerning the successor: David's way to the crown being by this means made the more clear.

   “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:

   Everything gathered on 1 Samuel 31:10→

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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 11:201 voice

   “If - the king’s wrath arise - It is likely that Joab had by some indiscretion suffered loss about this time;; and he contrived to get rid of the odium by connecting the transaction with the death of Uriah, which he knew would be so pleasing to the king.

   Everything gathered on 2 Samuel 11:20→

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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

   “Cast up a bank - See the marginal references. The throwing up of mounds against the walls of besieged places by the besiegers is well illustrated in the Assyrian sculptures. The trench - The “pomoerium,” or fortified space outside the wall. When the mound was planted in the pomoerium the battering engines were able to approach close to the wall to make a breach.

   Everything gathered on 2 Samuel 20:15→

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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 22:111 voice

    “Ye made also a ditch - That is, they made a “reservoir” to retain the water. The word ‘ditch,’ however, will well describe the character of the pool of Gihon on the west side of the city (see the notes at Isa 7:3). Between the two walls for the water of the old pool - Hezekiah built one of these walls himself (2Ch 32:5, 2Ch 32:30; compare 2Ki 25:5, and Jer 39:4). Between these two walls the water would be collected so as to be accessible to the inhabitants of the city in case of a siege.

    Everything gathered on Isaiah 22:11→

    Verse page →Original language →

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

    “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.

    “I will punish Bel in Babylon - Bel or Belus was their supreme deity. That which he hath swallowed up - The sacred vessels of the temple of Jerusalem, which were taken thence by Nebuchadnezzar, and dedicated to him in his temple at Babylon. The wall of Babylon shall fall - It shall cease to be a defense; and shall moulder away until, in process of time, it shall not be discernible.

    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 21:122 voices

    “Eze 48:30-35, has a similar description, which implies that the millennial Jerusalem shall have its exact antitype in the heavenly Jerusalem which shall descend on the finally regenerated earth. wall great and high--setting forth the security of the Church.

    “Had a wall great and high - An almighty defense. Twelve gates - A gate for every tribe of Israel, in the vicinity of which gate that tribe dwelt; so that in coming in and going out they did not mix with each other. This description of the city is partly taken from Eze 48:30-35. In Synopsis Sohar, p. 115, n.

    Everything gathered on Revelation 21:12→

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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

    “Peter is not the only apostolic rock on whose preaching Christ builds His Church. Christ Himself is the true foundation: the twelve are foundations only in regard to their apostolic testimony concerning Him.

    “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb - Figuratively showing that the inhabitants of the city had built only on that faith which the apostles once delivered to the saints.

    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

    “And he measured the wall thereof - In respect to its “height.” Of course, its length corresponded with the extent of the city. An hundred and forty and four cubits - This would be, reckoning the cubit at eighteen inches, two hundred and sixteen feet. This is less than the height of the walls of Babylon, which Herodotus says were three hundred and fifty feet high. See the introduction to chapter 13 of Isaiah.

    “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 …

    Everything gathered on Revelation 21:17–21→

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