I am starting this thread as the Alphabet Race for Names is nearing the finish line. Remember, any lesser known city with a little information and a scripture is fair game but not Sodom and Gomorrah since we don't want to get high blood pressure playing a game and mine went up a few notches when I was looking for "W" names in the Bible. No salt allowed. And btw, one of the Nick names for the city where I live is "Salt City". I think that this city is also found in Old Testament times or at least in history books from that period of time.

Let me start us out with "A" Ashkelon

Found in the book of Judges and concerning Samson....

“ And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to ASHKELON, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. “ Judges 14:19 KJV

Judges 14:19 NLT
“ Then the Spirit of the Lord powerfully took control of him. He went down to the town of ASHKELON, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothing to the men who had answered his riddle. But Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother. “

Happy trails....

Katie

Okay...I'll give this a try. How about Beersheba?! It's in Genesis (maybe other places too).

My bible says: "The well at Beersheba was a source of conflict between Abraham and King Abimelech and later became a sign of the oath that they swore there (21:31). Years later, as Isaac was moving from place to place, God appeared to him here and passed on to him the covenant he had made with his father, Abraham (26:23-25)"

The Life Application Bible c2004

Chesalon
Meaning: strength; confidence

a place on the border of Judah, on the side of Mount Jearim (Josh. 15:10)(And the border compassed from Baalah westward unto mount Seir, and passed along unto the side of mount Jearim, which is Chesalon, on the north side, and went down to Bethshemesh, and passed on to Timnah) probably identified with the modern village of Kesla, on the western mountains of Judah

Rose asked me to post here for "D"
She said to tell you she misses everyone but has been very busy planting her garden.


"D" Derbe
Acts 14: 1-7

1. "At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed. 2. But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3. So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders. 4. The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles. 5. There was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to mistreat them and stone them. 6. But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and DERBE and to the surrounding country, 7. where they continued to preach the good news."

EDREI

Numbers 21:33....."And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei."

or even better still-- ENDOR!!

1 Samuel 28:7....."Then said Saul unto his servants, 'Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, 'Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at ENDOR."

(Note: A woman that hath a familiar spirit = one who practices necromancy, consulting the dead to determine the future--strictly forbidden by law!)

Okay, F is a tough one! I don't think any of these qualify as Old Testament Cities, but they are all I could find. I found lots of G cities and several that started with ph, but nothing that started with F. Feel free to find something to replace these ideas (lol):

1. "Fertile Crescent" - part of the Assyrian Empire in 2 Chronicles
2. "Fish Gate" - part of the rebuilt walls of Jerusulem in Nehemiah.
3. "Forest of Ephraim" - David fought here in the book of 2 Samuel.

If no one has anything better, I'd suggest going on to G! Have a great day everyone!

New Song: I think you hit the nail on the head with the lack of "F" locations in OT just as in the "W" names on the other thread. Moving right along I will do "G" and because you gave three possibilities for "F" I have found two for "G"

Gerar: Town in southern Israel ruled by Abimelech in Abraham's day.

Genesis 10:19-20
"And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to GERAR, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. [20] These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations."

Geshur: Region and town in southern Syria: Absalom took refuge here, in his mother's home:

2 Samuel 13:38
"So Absalom fled, and went to GESHUR, and was there three years."

And now it's on to "H"

Katie42

Okay, so I got carried away with the letter "G" and don't want to feel like some "word hog" here, anybody, "give me a H?" I'm not cheerleader material.

Katie

Numbers 13:22

22 And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, [were]. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)


Joshua 14:13
And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance.

Joshua 14:14 Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel.


Joshua 21:11
And they gave them the city of Arba the father of Anak, which [city is] Hebron, in the hill [country] of Judah, with the suburbs thereof round about it.


Joshua 21:13
Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her suburbs, [to be] a city of refuge for the slayer; and Libnah with her suburbs,

Judges 1:20
And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak.

2 Samuel 2:1
And it came to pass after this, that David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the LORD said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron.


2 Samuel 2:3
And his men that [were] with him did David bring up, every man with his household: and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron.

2 Samuel 2:11
And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.


1 Chronicles 6:57
And to the sons of Aaron they gave the cities of Judah, [namely], Hebron, [the city] of refuge, and Libnah with her suburbs, and Jattir, and Eshtemoa, with their suburbs,

Can we play 'lesser known Ontario (OT) cities instead? ... would be easier!

Can't find any 'I's.... Israel.... do countries count? And it's hardly lesser known... I'm pants at this!

"O" my.... you're right wanderer and I know less about Ontario than I do the OT cities. Not unlike the letter "W" when we were working on names this "O" seems to have stopped the thread right in its tracks.

I will add this thought so we can proceed.... We find no "O" cities so with Dorothy and Toto let us proceed to the letter "P" saying softly as we journey along, "lions and tigers and bears "O" my!!!! Happy trails......

[I also found "Olives, Mt. of" in my concordance and thought about adding this but it's not a city]

Katie42

I am horrible at these types of games, but as soon as I get my boys in bed I'm gonna open up my pc study Bible and see if I can manage to come up with any cities.... I just have to figure out how to work the software (I prefer an actul Bible, but mine is in my van and hubby took my van to work today... *sigh* I hate being computer illiterate....

Sorry, I'm late!
If I may contribute in this biblical game (it is very nice one!), I want do it with two cities with "O":

The (still archaelogicaly unknown) city of OPHRAH and the city of Ophni.

This two cities were from the Tribe of Benjamin and can be located in Joshua 18:23, 24.

I found an interesting article here:
http://www.bsw.org/project/biblica/bibl86/Bib86Comm15.pdf

And now... we can happily continue to "P".

Brakhus thank you for speeding us on our way to the next city. When I read your post I was thinking, I have been reading the Old Testament through and at some point must have seen OPHRAH but if archaeologists couldn't find it, I shouldn't feel badly about failing to find it myself. However, yesterday's reading was in 1 Samuel 12:1 - 13:23 and when I saw what you had selected a light bulb flashed in my head, now do I feel pretty dumb... I may have been reading this AS you were posting it. [ Mt. of Olives indeed.... O my!!!]

1 Samuel 13:17 NLT
"Three raiding parties soon left the camp of the Philistines. One went north toward Ophrah in the land of Shual,"

So now it's on with the letter "P" leaving "Q" to the heavy hitters!


 PENUEL [Literally face of God, same as v 31 PENIEL]

 Beside the River Jabok, the place where Jacob wrested with the angel: Genesis 32 22 ff

Genesis 32:22-32
"And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two women-servants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. [23] And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.
[24] And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. [25] And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. [26] And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. [27] And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. [28] And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. [29] And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. [30] And Jacob called the name of the place * PENIEL: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. [31] And as he passed over PENUEL the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. [32] Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank."

Dear Katie:
This alphabetical race about OT cities you started, is a wonderful exercise to re-read and review the ancient scriptures.

I didn't participate (untill now) because I don't have an english Bible version (I had get an on-line KJV version, and is pretty hard to handle it!) and because I thought that is better to stand for some information about the cities than just name them or locate them. So, names (in my spanish bibles) are spelled quite different than they are in english.

So, I found the citie of Ophrah looking in the huge list of cities conquered by Israel in order to stablish the people in the Promise Land. That could be an easier way to find names of cities in OT. But as I said, it likes (for me) not enough to make this thread a teaching one, I mean, one that offer us some extra knowledge to help us about our Lord and the history behind and before His Holy Sacrifice for our Freedom in the Hands of God, as I guessed is your first intentional desire when you posted it. If I'm wrong about this thinking (as you can see, I'm doing some "mind reading"), please notice me and I'll correct my way.

So, the city of Ophrah ("Ofra" in spanish) was an interesting city because is where Gideon was born, and where God sent him to do His work (the liberty of Israel, again, but this time from the madianites) as is shown in Judges chapters 6 to 8. Is interesting because the importance of the Gideon's work, who is one of the most remarkable judges of Israel, and because in his time, the people was pagan in some "pendulum" way: Some time they were faithful to God, and after, they came back to paganism.

But Gideon's Ophrah just "could" be the same city listed in Joshua 18, so the scholar's discussion.

In the other hand, there is a little problem (as I have with the biblical names in spanish) with the english ones: Cities in OT are named by some "transliteration" rather by "translation". So, hebrew language had not something like our "Q", but it had Kof (or qof, or qoph) which is the 19th letter of the hebrew alphabet (aleph-bet), and had also Kaf (the 11th one); both of them sound some times like our "q". (I'm sorry but I don't know how put in this post the hebrew letters by its correct font). So, some Bibles have, for instance, "Kirjathjearim" or "Quirjat-jearim" (Joshua 15:9), or "Chesalom" and "Quesalom" (Josh. 15:10).

I want that this commentaries make this thread more challenging, and because of that, we were pushed to dig deeper in the knowledge of God's Word. This Word is a promise, this Word is salvation, this Word is the first way to take us to our Lord Who was announced by it; and first of all, The Word (Verbe) is our Lord Himself (John 1:1)

Let's continue gaming and learning about all of this wonderful things: They will help us, thank you, dear Katie, to continue in our always growing in the Purest Love who is our Sweet Jesus, our Joy.

Many blessings, as you already know, I pray always for you all.

P.S.: Do you accept "Quirjat-jearim" or "Quesalom"? Both have, as their initial, the hebrew letter "Kof"; and I must say, also, that Bible has many cities which names begins with "Quirjat..." something.

Be our Lord among us!

Brakhus...if you are looking for a website with other translations of the bible, try www.biblegateway.com. I personally recommend The New Living Translation!

Thanks for joining in!

Thanks New Song for this website.
I checked it out and it is awsome. One can even listen to the portion you asked for besides reading it.

Doth

Well I for one think that resources to "better play the game" and for that matter BETTER know the Word of God are always welcome. Thank you New Song!

I have another couple to add here:

http://www.apostolic-churches.net/bible/

and more defined search on that particular site

http://www.apostolic-churches.net/bible/search/

And to answer you Brakhus
[quote] "Let's continue gaming and learning about all of this wonderful things: They will help us, thank you, dear Katie, to continue in our always growing in the Purest Love who is our Sweet Jesus, our Joy."

"Do you accept "Quirjat-jearim" or "Quesalom"? Both have, as their initial, the hebrew letter "Kof"; and I must say, also, that Bible has many cities which names begins with "Quirjat..."

A resounding YES regarding the question. I don't see why not. Thank you for "Quirjat-jearim" or "Quesalom". I'm not finding any "Q" in my Eerdman's Handbook and to keep moving in the right direction we gratefully acknowledge your research on "Q". I must admit I've met my match in the researching department Brakhus! Thank you for your faithful searching of the scriptures!

Do we have another "Q" in the quest? or is it on to the letter "R"?
God bless, Katie

Thank you, thank you very much for posting those links to on-line Bible versions. They will be very helpful for me as I want to stay with you in a better way, talking the same language and quoting the same scriptures.

Dear New Song and dear Katie:

God bless you both for your faith and love! I confess it's so great feeling to be so welcoming as you do it to me, your brother and friend. I can really feel our Lord's Love for me through your Love and Faith!

God bless this wonderful site of reunion where we can make stronger our faith and love. I always pray for Elaine and thank God for her ministry, so important in this times! And also always pray and bless you too for your contribution to her ministry. With your posts, and others sisters and brothers' ones as well, you are doing a great job. Our Lord (I'm quite sure!) is very proud of you!

I desire that every sister and brother post often to share with us their opinion, experience, feelings, faith and love; as is written: ... "and in multitude of counsellors [there is] safety." Proverbs 24:6(b)
I'm quite sure also, that posting is a kind of ministry whose importance in the Elaine's one must be considered so great for our Lord's Glory.

Let's stand up with Elaine as her helpers to do our Dearest Lord's Work!
Let's walk with her our Sweet Jesus's Way!
Let's testify with our postings and lives Who is the King of Glory!

I know that someone, out there, will listen and believe, and so, will invite our King to dwell in his/her heart. If so, don't you believe, dear ones, that our work is pretty worthy of our efforts?
Everything must be done for the Glory of our Lord of Light and Truth!!!

Let me share with you this little prayer of mine:

"Dear Lord:
Allow us to spill our hearts before You and among Your children.
Bestow us to be part of Your Purest Love.
Be Your Kingdom the right place for those that suffer and accept, Dear Jesus, the humble offering of our work; and accept also that we can be instruments of Your Peace. For Yours is the Blessing, Honour, Glory and Power!" Amen.

Thank you, guys, again.

In His Purest Love,
The newest ant most little of your brothers, Brakhus.

Let's continue playing this wonderful game!