These six towns will be places of refuge for the Israelites, and for the foreigner, and for the settler among them, so that anyone who kills any person accidentally may flee there.

Joshua and the Israelites almost totally wiped them out, but some survivors did escape to the fortified cities. ¹ 

The Israelites plundered all the goods of these cities and the cattle, but they totally destroyed all the people ¹  and allowed no one who breathed to live.

Afterward David inquired of the Lord, “Should I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” The Lord told him, “Go up.” David asked, “Where should I go?” The Lord replied, ¹  “To Hebron.”

“The time will come when the land suffers from a famine, a plague, blight and disease, or a locust ¹  invasion, or when their enemy lays siege to the cities of the land, ²  or when some other type of plague or epidemic occurs.

In the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the people of Israel ¹  to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes.

The king of Assyria deported the people of Israel ¹  to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor (the river of Gozan), and in the cities of the Medes.

The rest of Kohath’s descendants were allotted ten cities in the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh. ¹ 

In the third year of his reign he sent his officials Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah.

Uzziah attacked ¹  the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. He built cities in the region of Ashdod and throughout Philistine territory. ² 

In the cities of the priests, Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah faithfully assisted him in making disbursements to their fellow priests ¹  according to their divisions, regardless of age. ² 

Like a lion that has come up from its lair ¹  the one who destroys nations has set out from his home base. ²  He is coming out to lay your land waste. Your cities will become ruins and lie uninhabited.

May that man be like the cities ¹  that the Lord destroyed without showing any mercy. May he hear a cry of distress in the morning and a battle cry at noon.

I will say, ¹  ‘My dear children of Israel, ²  keep in mind the road you took when you were carried off. ³  Mark off in your minds the landmarks. Make a mental note of telltale signs marking the way back. Return, my dear children of Israel. Return to these cities of yours.

“For this is what the sovereign Lord says: When I make you desolate like the uninhabited cities, when I bring up the deep over you and the surging ¹  waters overwhelm you,

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: In the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will populate the cities and the ruins will be rebuilt.

In that day people ¹  will come to you ²  from Assyria as far as ³  Egypt, from Egypt as far as the Euphrates River, ⁴  from the seacoasts ⁵  and the mountains. ⁶ 

The angel of the Lord then asked, “Lord who rules over all, ¹  how long before you have compassion on Jerusalem ²  and the other cities of Judah which you have been so angry with for these seventy years?” ³ 

Speak up again with the message of the Lord who rules over all: ‘My cities will once more overflow with prosperity, and once more the Lord will comfort Zion and validate his choice of Jerusalem.’”

So also ¹  Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, ²  since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire ³  in a way similar to ⁴  these angels, ⁵  are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.