Lexicon :: Strong's H1219 - bāṣar

“Hear, O Israel! You are crossing the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and more powerful than you, great cities fortified to heaven,

“When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, for the orphan, and for the widow.

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria went up against all the fortified cities of Judah [except Jerusalem] and captured them.

‘Have you not heard [asks the God of Israel]?

Long ago I did it;

From ancient times I planned it.

Now I have brought it to pass,

That you [king of Assyria] should [be My instrument to] turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

After these things and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and besieged the fortified cities, intending to take them for himself.

After this he built an outer wall for the City of David on the west side of Gihon, in the river valley, to the entrance of the Fish Gate; and he encircled the [fn]Ophel with it and made it very high. Then he put military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.

“They captured fortified cities and a fertile land.

They took possession of houses full of all good things,

Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves,

And [fn]fruit trees in abundance.

So they ate and were filled and became fat,

And they reveled and were delighted in Your great goodness.

“I know that You can do all things,

And that no thought or purpose of Yours can be restrained.

He will cut off the spirit of princes;

He is awesome and feared by the kings of the earth.

Against every high tower,

Against every fortified wall,

Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem

And you tore down the houses [to get materials] to fortify the city wall [by extending it].

For You have made a city into a heap [of trash],

A fortified city into a ruin;

A palace of [fn]foreigners is no longer a city,

It will never be rebuilt.

For the fortified city is isolated,

A settlement deserted and abandoned like the desert;

There the calf will graze,

And there it will lie down and [fn]feed on its branches.

Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and conquered them.

“Have you not heard [says the God of Israel]

That I did it long ago,

That I planned it in ancient times?

Now I have brought it to pass,

That you [king of Assyria] would [be My instrument to] turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps.

Thus says the LORD of hosts,

“They will thoroughly gather like [fruit on] a vine what is left of Israel;

Pass your hand [over the vine] again and again [Babylon, tool of destruction] like a grape gatherer,

Over the branches [stripping the tendrils off the vine].”

“And I will make you to this people

A fortified wall of bronze;

They will fight against you,

But they will not prevail over you,

For I am with you [always] to save you

And [fn]protect you,” says the LORD.

“If grape gatherers came to you,

Would they not leave some ungleaned grapes [on the vines]?

If thieves came by night,

Would they not destroy [only] what is enough [for them]?

“Though Babylon should ascend to the heavens,

And though she should fortify her lofty stronghold,

Yet destroyers will come on her from Me,” says the LORD.

For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces [and pagan temples],

And Judah has built many fortified cities;

But I will send a fire upon their cities so that it may consume their palaces and fortresses.

“If thieves came to you,

If robbers by night—

How you will be ruined!—

Would they not steal only until they had enough?

If grape gatherers came to you,

Would they not leave some grapes for gleaning?

A day of trumpet and the battle cry [of invaders]

Against the fortified cities

And against the high corner towers (battlements).

Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,

Because the magnificent trees have been destroyed;

Wail, O oaks of Bashan,

For the inaccessible forest [on the steep mountainside] has come down.