A city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post )
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עִיר (ir) is the common Hebrew noun for a city, town, or inhabited settlement. Genesis 4:17 says Cain built a city, Genesis 10:12 calls a settlement a great city, and Genesis 11:4 records the Babel builders' plan for a city and tower.
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Full entry for עִיר (H5892) · Open the biblical lexicon
עִיר (ir) is the common Hebrew noun for a city, town, or inhabited settlement. Genesis 4:17 says Cain built a city, Genesis 10:12 calls a settlement a great city, and Genesis 11:4 records the Babel builders' plan for a city and tower.
The BSB source-word alignment has 1,096 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the city (173), cities (148), city (121), of the city (73), the cities (66).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 4:17. Its strongest book concentrations include Joshua (158), Jeremiah (138), 2 Chronicles (89), 2 Kings (66).
עִיר (ir) is the common Hebrew noun for a city, town, or inhabited settlement. Genesis 4:17 says Cain built a city, Genesis 10:12 calls a settlement a great city, and Genesis 11:4 records the Babel builders' plan for a city and tower. Urban gathering can organize family, trade, defense, culture, worship, and power. The noun itself is morally neutral; Scripture evaluates what a city loves, builds, protects, oppresses, remembers, and worships.
Cities can become places of grave violence and judgment. Abraham asks whether righteous people in Sodom would be swept away with the city in Genesis 18:24, and Genesis 19 narrates urgent departure before destruction. Deuteronomy 13 addresses an Israelite city turned to idolatry, and Joshua 6 narrates Jericho's fall within the conquest. These are specific covenant and judgment texts. They do not authorize churches or modern states to label unwanted communities wicked and carry out religious violence.
Cities also become sites of refuge, worship, responsibility, and hope. Numbers 35 appoints cities of refuge to restrain blood vengeance and provide adjudication. Psalms 46, 48, and 87 celebrate the city of God, while Isaiah 60:14 names Zion the city of the Lord. Jeremiah 29:7 tells exiles to seek the welfare of the Babylonian city where they live, and Jonah is sent to a great foreign city whose violence God judges and whose repentance God receives. Ezekiel 48:35 ends with a restored city named “The Lord Is There.” These trajectories reach beyond one municipality without making any present city identical to Zion, Babylon, or Nineveh.
Ir names ordinary settlements and famous theological cities alike. Biblical cities concentrate people, institutions, protection, worship, injustice, memory, judgment, and hope, so each urban portrayal must be read on its own terms.
Babel's builders seek a city, a heaven-reaching tower, and a name that will prevent their scattering.
Abraham's intercession asks whether the judge of all the earth will spare Sodom for righteous people within the city.
Israel must appoint cities of refuge so a person responsible for unintentional killing can flee and receive due process.
David captures the stronghold of Zion, which becomes the city of David and a royal center.
A river gladdens the city of God, which is secure because God is in its midst.
The restored Zion is called the city of the Lord and Zion of Israel's Holy One.
Exiles must seek the welfare of Babylon's city and pray for it because their welfare is bound to its welfare.
Nineveh is described as an exceedingly great city as Jonah enters to proclaim the warning he was given.
Ezekiel's restoration vision closes with the city's new name, “The Lord Is There.”
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post )
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post) BDB: city Usage: Ai (from margin), city, court (from margin), town.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
עִיר is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Ir helps congregations see cities as shared moral ecosystems rather than scenery. Babel asks what people build to secure a name and resist dependence. Refuge cities ask whether institutions restrain vengeance and protect fair hearing. Jerusalem asks whether worship, justice, and divine presence shape public life. Jeremiah 29 calls displaced believers to pray and work for a city's welfare without confusing civic service with uncritical loyalty to empire.
Jonah confronts communities that prefer judgment on outsiders to God's compassion for a large, violent city capable of repentance. A sermon can invite faithful local presence, protection of vulnerable neighbors, institutional accountability, and hope for renewal without declaring a modern city uniquely chosen or irredeemably Babylonian.
Ps.46.4
H5892 is a general settlement noun. City of God, city of David, great city, refuge city, and condemned city acquire their force from modifiers and narratives rather than from ir alone.
The New Testament addresses churches in particular cities and contrasts Babylon with the New Jerusalem in Revelation. Christian civic presence, mission, and eschatological hope can draw on the wider city trajectory without identifying a contemporary municipality directly with either symbol.