What the Bible Says About the Names of Countries and Their Meanings

Scripture

⁶ The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.
⁷ The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.
⁸ Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man.
⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. So it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.”
¹⁰ The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
¹¹ From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,
¹² and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.
¹³ Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,
¹⁴ Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.
¹⁵ Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth,
¹⁶ the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,
¹⁷ the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites,
¹⁸ the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites spread abroad.
¹⁹ And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
²⁰ These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

Genesis 10:6-20

Genesis 12:1-9: ¹ Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
⁵ Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan.
⁶ Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
⁸ From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
⁹ And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

Genesis 15:18-21: ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,
¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
²¹ And the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

Exodus 3:7-10: ⁷ Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,
⁸ and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
⁹ And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
¹⁰ Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Numbers 34:1-12: ¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
³⁴ Command the people of Israel, and say to them, When you enter the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, the land of Canaan as defined by its borders),
³ your south side shall be from the wilderness of Zin alongside Edom, and your southern border shall run from the end of the Salt Sea on the east.
⁴ And your border shall turn south of the ascent of Akrabbim, and cross to Zin, and its limit shall be south of Kadesh-barnea.
⁵ And the border shall turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, and its termination shall be at the sea.
⁶ “And as for the western border, you shall have the Great Sea and its coast. This shall be your western border.
⁷ And the western border shall be the Great Sea with its coast. This shall be the western border.
⁸ And from Mount Hor you shall draw a line to Lebo-hamath, and the limit of the border shall be at Zedad.
⁹ Then the border shall extend from the top of the mountain to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah, and from there to the cities of Mount Ephron. And the border shall extend to Baalah (that is, Kiriath-jearim).
¹⁰ And the boundary shall turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, and its termination shall be at the sea.
¹¹ And the boundary shall go down from Shepham to Riblah on the east side of Ain. And the boundary shall go down and reach to the shoulder of the Sea of Chinnereth on the east.
¹² And the border shall go down to the Jordan, and its limit shall be at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land as defined by its borders all around.”

Deuteronomy 1:6-8: ⁶ “The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain.
⁷ Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.
⁸ See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.

Joshua 1:1-4: ¹ After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant,
² “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.”
³ Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.
⁴ From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.

Judges 1:21-36: ²¹ But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
²² The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them.
²³ And the house of Joseph scouted out Bethel. (Now the name of the city was formerly Luz.)
²⁴ And the spies saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance to the city, and we will deal kindly with you.”
²⁵ So he showed them the entrance into the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go.
²⁶ And the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city and called its name Luz. That is its name to this day.
²⁷ Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages, for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land.
²⁸ When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely.
²⁹ And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.
³⁰ Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to forced labor.
³¹ Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, or of Achzib, or of Helbah, or of Aphik, or of Rehob,
³² So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.
³³ Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, so they lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land.
³⁴ The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain.
³⁵ But the Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain.
³⁶ And the border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.

1 Kings 4:20-21: ²⁰ Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy.
²¹ Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

2 Kings 17:24-41: ²⁴ And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.
²⁵ And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
²⁶ So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.”
²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land.”
²⁸ So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord.
²⁹ But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived.
³⁰ The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,
³¹ the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
³² They also feared the Lord and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places.
³³ They feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.
³⁴ To this day they do according to their former manner. They do not fear the Lord, and they do not follow the statutes or the rules or the law or the commandment that the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel.
³⁵ The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, “You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them,
³⁶ but you shall fear the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice.
³⁷ And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods.
³⁸ And the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, and you shall not fear other gods.
³⁹ but you shall fear the Lord your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.
⁴⁰ but they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
⁴¹ So these nations feared the Lord and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children’s children—as their fathers did, so they do to this day.

2 Chronicles 9:26-28: ²⁶ And he ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt.
²⁷ The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah.
²⁸ And they brought horses and chariots and 420 talents of silver to the king of Egypt. And the king of Egypt lent to the king of Israel horses and chariots, and a host of men. He lent them year by year.

Isaiah 19:23-25: ²³ In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
²⁴ In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,
²⁵ whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”

Jeremiah 25:17-26: ¹⁷ So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it:
¹⁸ Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day;
¹⁹ Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people,
²⁰ all the mixed tribes among all the kings of the land of Uz and all the kings of the land of the Philistines and Ashkelon and Gaza and Ekron and the remnant of Ashdod,
²¹ Edom, Moab, and the sons of Ammon,
²² all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across the sea;
²³ Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair.
²⁴ all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert;
²⁵ all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media;
²⁶ all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Babylon shall drink.

Ezekiel 27:1-36: ²⁷ The word of the Lord came to me:
² “Now you, son of man, raise a lamentation over Tyre,”
³ and say to Tyre, who dwells at the entrances to the sea, merchant of the peoples to many coastlands, thus says the Lord God: “O Tyre, you have said, ‘I am perfect in beauty.’
⁴ Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders have perfected your beauty.
⁵ They made all your planks of fir trees from Senir; they took a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you.
⁶ Of oaks of Bashan
they made your oars;
they made your deck of pines
from the coasts of Cyprus,
inlaid with ivory.
⁷ Your sail was of fine embroidered linen from Egypt so that it became your own sail.
⁸ The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers; your skilled men, O Tyre, were in you; they were your pilots.
⁹ The elders of Gebal and its skilled men were in you, caulking your seams; all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to barter for your wares.
¹⁰ “Persia and Lud and Put were in your army as your men of war. They hung the shield and helmet in you; they gave you splendor.”
¹¹ The men of Arvad and Helech were on your walls all around, and men of Gamad were in your towers. They hung their shields on your walls all around; they have made perfect your beauty.
¹² “Tarshish did business with you because of your great wealth of every kind; silver, iron, tin, and lead they exchanged for your wares.
¹³ Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded with you. They exchanged human beings and vessels of bronze for your merchandise.
¹⁴ “Beth-togarmah exchanged for your wares horses, war horses, and mules.
¹⁵ The men of Dedan traded with you. Many coastlands were your own special markets; they brought you in payment ivory tusks and ebony.
¹⁶ Syria did business with you because of the abundance of your goods; they exchanged for your wares emeralds, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and ruby.
¹⁷ Judah and the land of Israel traded with you; they exchanged for your merchandise wheat, olives, honey, and oil.
¹⁸ Damascus was your merchant in the multitude of the goods of your making, for the abundance of all wealth, in wine of Helbon and wool of Sahar.
¹⁹ Vedan and Javan traded with yarn for your wares; wrought iron, cassia, and calamus were bartered for your merchandise.
²⁰ Dedan traded with you in saddlecloths for riding.
²¹ Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your favored dealers in lambs, rams, and goats; in these they did business with you.
²² The traders of Sheba and Raamah traded with you; they exchanged for your wares the best of all kinds of spices and all precious stones and gold.
²³ Haran, Canneh, Eden, traders of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with you.
²⁴ “In your marketplace they traded with you beautiful garments, blue fabric, embroidered work, and fine carpets of colored material, bound with cords and made secure.
²⁵ The ships of Tarshish traveled for you with your merchandise. So you were filled and heavily laden in the heart of the seas.
²⁶ “Your rowers have brought you out into the high seas. The east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the seas.”
²⁷ Your riches, your wares, your merchandise, your mariners and your pilots, your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise, and all your men of war who are in you, with all your crew that is in your midst, sink into the heart of the seas on the day of your fall.
²⁸ At the sound of the cry of your pilots the countryside shakes,
²⁹ and down from their ships come all who handle the oar. The sailors and all the pilots of the sea stand on the land
³⁰ and shout aloud over you and cry out bitterly. They cast dust on their heads and wallow in ashes;
³¹ they make themselves bald for you
and put sackcloth on their waist,
and they weep over you in bitterness of soul,
with bitter mourning.
³² And in their wailing they raise a lamentation for you
and lament over you:
‘Who is like Tyre,
like one destroyed in the midst of the sea?
³³ When your wares went out on the seas, you satisfied many peoples; with your abundant wealth and merchandise you enriched the kings of the earth.
³⁴ Now you are wrecked by the seas, in the depths of the waters; your merchandise and all your crew in your midst have sunk with you.
³⁵ All the inhabitants of the coastlands
are appalled at you,
and the hair of their kings bristles with horror;
their faces are convulsed.
³⁶ The merchants among the peoples hiss at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.

Daniel 11:1-45: ¹ “And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.”
² And now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece.
³ Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills.
⁴ And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these.
⁵ “Then the king of the south shall be strong, but one of his princes shall be stronger than he and shall rule, and his authority shall be a great authority.”
⁶ After some years they shall make an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she shall not retain the strength of her arm, and he and his arm shall not endure, but she shall be given up, and her attendants, he who fathered her, and he who supported her in those times.
⁷ “But one from her offspring shall arise in his place, and he shall come against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north, and he shall deal with them and shall prevail.”
⁸ Then he shall carry off to Egypt their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, and for some years he shall refrain from attacking the king of the north.
⁹ Then the king of the south shall come into the realm of the king of the north, but he shall return to his own land.
¹⁰ “His sons shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall keep coming and overflow and pass through, and again shall carry the war as far as his fortress.”
¹¹ Then the king of the south, moved with rage, shall come out and fight against the king of the north. And he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand.
¹² And when the multitude is taken away, his heart shall be exalted, and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail.
¹³ For the king of the north shall again raise a multitude, greater than the first. And after some years he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies.
¹⁴ “In those times many shall rise against the king of the south, and the violent among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they shall fail.
¹⁵ Then the king of the north shall come and throw up siegeworks and take a well-fortified city. And the forces of the south shall not stand, or even his best troops, for there shall be no strength to stand.
¹⁶ But he who comes against him shall do as he wills, and none shall stand before him. And he shall stand in the glorious land, with destruction in his hand.
¹⁷ He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them. He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom, but it shall not stand or be to his advantage.
¹⁸ Afterward he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them, but a commander shall put an end to his insolence; indeed, he shall turn his insolence back upon him.
¹⁹ Then he shall turn his face back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found.
²⁰ “Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an exactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom. But within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle.
²¹ In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
²² Armies shall be utterly swept away before him and broken, even the prince of the covenant.
²³ And from the time that an alliance is made with him he shall act deceitfully, and he shall become strong with a small people.
²⁴ In a time of security he shall come even upon the richest parts of the province, and he shall do what his fathers have not done, nor his fathers’ fathers. He shall scatter among them plunder, spoil, and goods. He shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time.
²⁵ “And he shall stir up his power and his heart against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south shall wage war with an exceedingly great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for plots shall be devised against him.”
²⁶ Even those who eat his food shall break him. His army shall be swept away, and many shall fall down slain.
²⁷ And as for the two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for the end is yet to be at the time appointed.
²⁸ And he shall return to his land with great wealth, but his heart shall be set against the holy covenant. And he shall work his will and return to his own land.
²⁹ “At the time appointed he shall return and come into the south, but it shall not be this time as it was before.
³⁰ For ships of Kittim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw, and shall turn back and be enraged and take action against the holy covenant. So he shall turn back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant.
³¹ Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.
³² He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.
³³ And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some days they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder.
³⁴ When they stumble, they shall receive a little help.
³⁵ And some of the wise shall stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made white, until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.
³⁶ “And the king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished; for what is decreed shall be done.”
³⁷ He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all.
³⁸ He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts.
³⁹ He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor. He shall make them rulers over many and shall divide the land for a price.
⁴⁰ “At the time of the end, the king of the south shall attack him, but the king of the north shall rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen, and with many ships. And he shall come into countries and shall overflow and pass through.”
⁴¹ He shall come into the glorious land. And tens of thousands shall fall, but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom and Moab and the main part of the Ammonites.
⁴² He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
⁴³ He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train.
⁴⁴ But news from the east and the north shall alarm him, and he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction.
⁴⁵ And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, with none to help him.

Joel 3:1-8: ¹ “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
² I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land,
³ They have cast lots for my people; they have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.
⁴ “What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily.
⁵ Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples,
⁶ You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, removing them far from their own border.
⁷ Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will return your payment on your own head.
⁸ I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.”

Amos 1:1-15: ¹ The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
² And he said: “The Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers.”
³ Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.
⁴ So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.
⁵ I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir,” says the Lord.
⁶ Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom.
⁷ So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour her strongholds.
⁸ I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,” says the Lord God.
⁹ Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they delivered up a whole people to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
¹⁰ So I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour her strongholds.
¹¹ Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever.
¹² So I will send a fire upon Teman,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.
¹³ Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border.
¹⁴ So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah,
and it shall devour her strongholds,
with shouting on the day of battle,
with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind;
¹⁵ The Lord has spoken: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border.

Obadiah 1:1-21: ¹ The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom: We have heard a report from the Lord, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: “Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!”
² Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be utterly despised.
³ The pride of your heart has deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rock,
in your lofty dwelling,
who say in your heart,
“Who will bring me down to the ground?”
⁴ Though you soar aloft like the eagle,
though your nest is set among the stars,
from there I will bring you down,
declares the Lord.
⁵ “If thieves came to you, if plunderers came by night— how you have been destroyed!— would they not steal only enough for themselves? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings?”
⁶ How Esau has been pillaged,
his treasures sought out!
⁷ All your allies have driven you to your border; those at peace with you have deceived you; they have prevailed against you; those who eat your bread have set a trap beneath you— you have no understanding.
⁸ “Will I not on that day, declares the Lord, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of Mount Esau?”
⁹ And your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman, so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter.
¹⁰ Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob,
shame shall cover you,
and you shall be cut off forever.
¹¹ On the day that you stood aloof,
on the day that strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates
and cast lots for Jerusalem,
you were like one of them.
¹² But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress.
¹³ Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity; do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity.
¹⁴ Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives; do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress.
¹⁵ For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head.
¹⁶ For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been.
¹⁷ But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions.
¹⁸ The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
and the house of Joseph a flame,
and the house of Esau stubble;
they shall burn them and consume them,
and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau,
for the Lord has spoken.
¹⁹ Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau,
and those of the Shephelah shall possess the land of the Philistines;
they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria,
and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
²⁰ The exiles of this host of the people of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the Negeb.
²¹ Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.

Zephaniah 2:4-15: ⁴ For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon shall become a desolation; Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon, and Ekron shall be uprooted.
⁵ Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast, you nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left.
⁶ And the seacoast shall be pastures, with meadows for shepherds and folds for flocks.
⁷ The seacoast shall become the possession
of the remnant of the house of Judah,
on which they shall graze,
and in the houses of Ashkelon
they shall lie down at evening,
for the Lord their God will be mindful of them
and restore their fortunes.
⁸ “I have heard the taunts of Moab
and the revilings of the Ammonites,
how they have taunted my people
and made boasts against their territory.
⁹ Therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Moab shall become like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah, a land possessed by nettles and salt pits, and a waste forever. The remnant of my people shall plunder them, and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.”
¹⁰ This shall be their lot in return for their pride, because they taunted and boasted against the people of the Lord of hosts.
¹¹ The Lord will be awesome against them; for he will famish all the gods of the earth, and to him shall bow down, each in its place, all the lands of the nations.
¹² You also, O Cushites, shall be slain by my sword.
¹³ And he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria,
and he will make Nineveh a desolation,
a dry waste like the desert.
¹⁴ Herds shall lie down in her midst,
all kinds of beasts;
even the owl and the hedgehog
shall lodge in her capitals;
a voice shall hoot in the window;
devastation will be on the threshold;
for her cedar work will be laid bare.
¹⁵ This is the exultant city that lived securely, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is no one else.” What a desolation she has become, a lair for wild beasts! Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

Zechariah 9:1-8: ⁹ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
² and on Hamath also, which borders on it, Tyre and Sidon, though they are very wise.
³ Tyre has built herself a rampart
and heaped up silver like dust,
and fine gold like the mud of the streets.
⁴ Behold, the Lord will strip her of her possessions and strike down her power on the sea, and she shall be devoured by fire.
⁵ Ashkelon shall see it, and be afraid; Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish; Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded. The king shall perish from Gaza; Ashkelon shall be uninhabited;
⁶ a mixed people shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of Philistia.
⁷ I will take away its blood from its mouth,
and its abominations from between its teeth;
it too shall be a remnant for our God;
it shall be like a clan in Judah,
and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.
⁸ Then I will encamp at my house as a guard, so that none shall march to and fro; no oppressor shall again march over them, for now I see with my own eyes.

Matthew 2:13-15: ¹³ Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”
¹⁴ And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt.
¹⁵ and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Acts 2:5-11: ⁵ Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.
⁶ And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.
⁷ And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?
⁸ And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?
⁹ Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,
¹¹ both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

Acts 8:26-40: ²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place.
²⁷ And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship
²⁸ And he was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”
³⁰ So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
³¹ And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
³² Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth.
³³ In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.
³⁴ And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”
³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.
³⁶ And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”
³⁷ And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
³⁸ And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
³⁹ And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
⁴⁰ Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Acts 13:13-52: ¹³ Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem,
¹⁴ but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.
¹⁵ And after the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.”
¹⁶ So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.
¹⁷ The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it.
¹⁸ And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.
¹⁹ And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance.
²⁰ All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
²¹ Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
²² And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’
²³ Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.
²⁴ Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
²⁵ And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’
²⁶ “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.”
²⁷ For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.
²⁸ And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed.
²⁹ And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.
³⁰ But God raised him from the dead,
³¹ and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.
³² And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers,
³³ this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’
³⁴ And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, “‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’
³⁵ Therefore he says also in another psalm, “You will not let your Holy One see corruption.”
³⁶ For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption,
³⁷ but he whom God raised up did not see corruption.
³⁸ Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.
³⁹ and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.
⁴⁰ Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:
⁴¹ “‘Look, you scoffers,
be astounded and perish;
for I am doing a work in your days,
a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”
⁴² As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath.
⁴³ And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.
⁴⁴ The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.
⁴⁵ But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.
⁴⁶ And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.”
⁴⁷ For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.”
⁴⁸ And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
⁴⁹ And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.
But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.
¹³ And they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.
⁵² And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:19-24: ¹⁹ by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ;
²⁰ and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation,
²¹ but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.”
²² This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you.
²³ But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you,
²⁴ I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while.

1 Peter 1:1-2: ¹ Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
² according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Revelation 17:1-18: ¹ Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters,
² with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.”
³ And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.
⁴ The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.
⁵ And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.”
⁶ And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.
⁷ But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her.
⁸ The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.
⁹ This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated;
¹⁰ they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while.
¹¹ As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction.
¹² And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast.
¹³ These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast.
¹⁴ They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”
¹⁵ And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.
¹⁶ And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire,
¹⁷ for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.
¹⁸ And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.