In each city there were shields and spears; he strongly fortified them. ¹  Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.

Consider its defenses! ¹  Walk through ²  its fortresses, so you can tell the next generation about it! ³ 

Wild dogs will yip in her ruined fortresses, jackals will yelp in the once-splendid palaces. ¹  Her time is almost up, ²  her days will not be prolonged. ³ 

At that time ¹  this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city! The Lord’s ²  deliverance, like walls and a rampart, makes it secure. ³ 

When the chief adviser heard the king of Assyria had departed from Lachish, he left and went to Libnah, where the king was campaigning. ¹ 

He broke down ¹  their strongholds ²  and devastated their cities. The land and everything in it was frightened at the sound of his roaring.

Hazael asked, “Why are you crying, my master?” He replied, “Because I know the trouble you will cause the Israelites. You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, smash their children to bits, and rip open their pregnant women.”

They should gather all the excess food ¹  during these good years that are coming. By Pharaoh’s authority ²  they should store up grain so the cities will have food, ³  and they should preserve it. ⁴ 

“‘If a man sells a residential house in a walled city, ¹  its right of redemption must extend ²  until one full year from its sale; ³  its right of redemption must extend to a full calendar year. ⁴ 

If it is not redeemed before the full calendar year is ended, ¹  the house in the walled city ²  will belong without reclaim ³  to the one who bought it throughout his generations; it will not revert in the jubilee.

The houses of villages, however, ¹  which have no wall surrounding them ²  must be considered as the field ³  of the land; they will have the right of redemption and must revert in the jubilee.

There was a fortified ¹  tower ²  in the center of the city, so all the men and women, as well as the city’s leaders, ran into it and locked the entrance. Then they went up to the roof of the tower.

Ben-Geber was in charge of Ramoth Gilead; he controlled the tent villages of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead, as well as the region of Argob in Bashan, including sixty large walled cities with bronze bars locking their gates.

When Zimri saw that the city was captured, he went into the fortified area of the royal palace. He set the palace on fire and died in the flames. ¹ 

King Asa ordered all the men of Judah to carry away the stones and wood that Baasha had used to build Ramah. ¹  He used the materials to build up ²  Geba and Mizpah.

They said to me, “The remnant that remains from the exile there in the province are experiencing considerable ¹  adversity and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem lies breached, and its gates have been burned down!” ² 

I replied to the king, “O king, live forever! Why would I not appear dejected when the city with the graves of my ancestors ¹  lies desolate and its gates destroyed ²  by fire?”

At that time ¹  their fortified cities will be like the abandoned summits of the Amorites, ²  which they abandoned because of the Israelites; there will be desolation.

On every high mountain and every high hill there will be streams flowing with water, at the time of ¹  great slaughter when the fortified towers collapse.

‘Death has climbed in ¹  through our windows. It has entered into our fortified houses. It has taken away our children who play in the streets. It has taken away our young men who gather in the city squares.’