The nations will be burned to ashes; ¹  like thorn bushes that have been cut down, they will be set on fire.

“I will set fire to the walls of Damascus; it will burn up the palaces of Ben Hadad.” ¹ 

Like lions his enemies roar victoriously over him; they raise their voices in triumph. ¹  They have laid his land waste; his cities have been burned down and deserted. ² 

But I will punish you as your deeds deserve,’ says the Lord. ¹  ‘I will set fire to your palace; it will burn up everything around it.’” ² 

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 

כ (Kaf) The Lord fully vented ¹  his wrath; he poured out his fierce anger. ²  He started a fire in Zion; it consumed her foundations. ³ 

So I will set fire to Rabbah’s ¹  city wall; ²  fire ³  will consume her fortresses. War cries will be heard on the day of battle; ⁴  a strong gale will blow on the day of the windstorm. ⁵ 

So he said to his servants, “Look, Joab has a portion of field adjacent to mine and he has some barley there. Go and set it on fire.” ¹  So Absalom’s servants set Joab’s ²  portion of the field on fire.

When you capture the city, set it ¹  on fire. Do as the Lord says! See, I have given you orders.” ² 

When he held out his hand, the men waiting in ambush rose up quickly from their place and attacked. ¹  They entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.

Then Joab got up and came to Absalom’s house. He said to him, “Why did your servants set my portion of field on fire?”

This will happen because they have abandoned me and offered sacrifices ¹  to other gods, angering me with all the idols they have made. ²  My anger will ignite against this place and will not be extinguished!’”

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 

For ¹  evil burned like a fire, ²  it consumed thorns and briers; it burned up the thickets of the forest, and they went up in smoke. ³ 

I, the Lord, once called ¹  you a thriving olive tree, one that produced beautiful fruit. But I will set you ²  on fire, fire that will blaze with a mighty roar. ³  Then all your branches will be good for nothing. ⁴ 

Pack your bags for exile, you inhabitants of poor dear Egypt. ¹  For Memphis will be laid waste. It will lie in ruins ²  and be uninhabited.

The soldiers of Babylonia will stop fighting. They will remain in their fortified cities. They will lose their strength to do battle. ¹  They will be as frightened as women. ²  The houses in her cities will be set on fire. The gates of her cities will be broken down. ³ 

So each of his men also cut off a branch and followed Abimelech. They put the branches ¹  against the stronghold and set fire to it. ²  All the people ³  of the Tower of Shechem died – about a thousand men and women.

Then I said to them, “You see the problem that we have: Jerusalem is desolate and its gates are burned. Come on! Let’s rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that this reproach will not continue.”

I said, ¹  “I will weep and mourn ²  for the grasslands on the mountains, ³  I will sing a mournful song for the pastures in the wilderness because they are so scorched no one travels through them. The sound of livestock is no longer heard there. Even the birds in the sky and the wild animals in the fields have fled and are gone.”