who fulfills the oracles of his prophetic servants ¹  and brings to pass the announcements ²  of his messengers, who says about Jerusalem, ³  ‘She will be inhabited,’ and about the towns of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, her ruins I will raise up,’

I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness, or the glad celebration of brides and grooms throughout the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. For the whole land will become a desolate wasteland.”

The Lord said to me, “Announce all the following words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: ‘Listen to the terms of my covenant with you ¹  and carry them out!

“I, the Lord who rules over all, say: ¹  ‘This place will indeed lie in ruins. There will be no people or animals in it. But there will again be in it and in its towns sheepfolds where shepherds can rest their sheep.

Edom will be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns that were around them. No one will live there. No human being will settle in it,” says the Lord.

You will stumble and fall, you proud city; no one will help you get up. I will set fire to your towns; it will burn up everything that surrounds you.” ¹ 

I will destroy Babylonia just like I did Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns. No one will live there. ¹  No human being will settle in it,” says the Lord. ² 

The exiles of this fortress ¹  of the people of Israel will take possession ²  of what belongs to the people of Canaan, as far as Zarephath, ³  and the exiles of Jerusalem ⁴  who are in Sepharad ⁵  will take possession of the towns of the Negev.

Should you not have obeyed the words that the Lord cried out through the former prophets when Jerusalem ¹  was peacefully inhabited and her surrounding cities, the Negev, and the Shephelah ²  were also populated?

Then Jesus went throughout all the towns ¹  and villages, teaching in their synagogues, ²  preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and sickness. ³ 

Moreover, ¹  the open field areas of their cities ²  must not be sold, because that is their perpetual possession.

Solomon rebuilt the cities that Huram ¹  had given him and settled Israelites there.

Some of the descendants of ¹  Benjamin settled in Geba, ²  Micmash, Aija, Bethel ³  and its villages,

Zion hears and rejoices, the towns ¹  of Judah are happy, because of your judgments, O Lord.

Your chosen ¹  cities have become a desert; Zion has become a desert, Jerusalem ²  is a desolate ruin.

Paul and Barnabas ¹  learned about it ²  and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra ³  and Derbe ⁴  and the surrounding region.

On the other hand, you may slaughter and eat meat as you please when the Lord your God blesses you ¹  in all your villages. ²  Both the ritually pure and impure may eat it, whether it is a gazelle or an ibex.

If the place he ¹  chooses to locate his name is too far for you, you may slaughter any of your herd and flock he ²  has given you just as I have stipulated; you may eat them in your villages ³  just as you wish.

David said to Achish, “If I have found favor with you, let me be given a place in one of the country towns so that I can live there. Why should your servant settle in the royal city with you?”

The Philistines had raided the cities of Judah in the lowlands ¹  and the Negev. They captured and settled in Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco and its surrounding villages, Timnah and its surrounding villages, and Gimzo and its surrounding villages.