The people of Damascus will lose heart and turn to flee. Panic will grip them. Pain and anguish will seize them like a woman in labor.

For a nation from the north ¹  will attack Babylon. It will lay her land waste. People and animals will flee out of it. No one will inhabit it.’

“You there! ¹  Flee from the northland!” says the Lord, “for like the four winds of heaven ²  I have scattered you,” says the Lord.

He jammed ¹  the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving, ²  and the Egyptians said, “Let’s flee ³  from Israel, for the Lord fights ⁴  for them against Egypt!”

I will set my face against you. You will be struck down before your enemies, those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when there is no one pursuing you.

They will stumble over each other as those who flee before a sword, though ¹  there is no pursuer, and there will be no one to take a stand ²  for you before your enemies.

Now from these towns that you will give to the Levites you must select six towns of refuge to which a person who has killed someone may flee. ¹  And you must give them forty-two other towns.

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.

You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent ¹  of your land that the Lord your God is providing as your inheritance; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities.

The Lord will cause your enemies who attack ¹  you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction ²  but flee from you in seven different directions.

“The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror ¹  to all the kingdoms of the earth.

When I catch up with ¹  him he will be exhausted and worn out. ²  I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will kill only the king

The Lord said, ¹  “Announce ²  this in Judah and proclaim it in Jerusalem: ³  ‘Sound the trumpet ⁴  throughout the land!’ Shout out loudly, ‘Gather together! Let us flee into the fortified cities!’

Turn and flee! Take up refuge in remote places, ¹  you people who live in Dedan. ²  For I will bring disaster on the descendants of Esau. I have decided it is time for me to punish them. ³ 

The Lord says, ¹  “Flee quickly, you who live in Hazor. ²  Take up refuge in remote places. ³  For King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has laid out plans to attack you. He has formed his strategy on how to defeat you.” ⁴ 

He called out loudly ¹  as follows: ²  ‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches! Strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit! Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches!

Look! ¹  Even if ²  they flee from the destruction, Egypt will take hold ³  of them, and Memphis will bury them. The weeds will inherit the silver they treasure ⁴  – thorn bushes will occupy their homes. ⁵ 

“‘As for ¹  the ones who remain among you, I will bring despair into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a blowing leaf will pursue them, and they will flee as one who flees the sword and fall down even though there is no pursuer.

Suppose he goes with someone else ¹  to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax ²  to cut the tree, the ax head flies loose ³  from the handle and strikes ⁴  his fellow worker ⁵  so hard that he dies. The person responsible ⁶  may then flee to one of these cities to save himself. ⁷ 

When the men of Ai turned around, they saw ¹  the smoke from the city ascending into the sky and were so shocked they were unable to flee in any direction. ²  In the meantime the men who were retreating to the desert turned against their pursuers.