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Concordances
Nave Topical Bible
• Walls, of the Cities
• Treasure Cities
• Cities of Refuge
•   (only first 3 shown)
Thompson Chain Reference
• Store-Cities
• Refuge, Cities of
• Fenced Cities
•   (only first 3 shown)
Treasury of Biblical Knowledge
• Walled Cities
• City; Gates (Cities Etc Listed Separately)
• Cities of Refuge Etc
Torrey Topical Textbook
• Cities of Refuge
• Cities
Dictionaries
American Tract Society
• Refuge, Cities of
• City
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
• City of Refuge
• City
Chabad Knowledge Base
• Cities of Refuge
CARM Theological Dictionary
• Cities of Refuge
Easton's Bible Dictionary
• Treasure Cities
• Salt, the City of
• Refuge, Cities of
•   (only first 3 shown)
Fausset Bible Dictionary
• Salt, City of
• Fenced Cities
• City
•   (only first 3 shown)
Holman Bible Dictionary
• Storehouse, Storage City
• Salt, City of
• Royal City
•   (only first 3 shown)
Hitchcock Bible Names
• Shiloh (Name of a City)
Hastings' BibleDictionary
• Salt, City of
• Rulers of the City
• Refuge, Cities of
•   (only first 3 shown)
Hastings' NT Dictionary
• City
King James Dictionary
• City
Morrish Bible Dictionary
• Salt, City of
• Refuge, Cities of
• Golden City
•   (only first 3 shown)
1910 New Catholic Dictionary
• Sioux City, Iowa, Diocese of
• Siena, Italy, City of
• Seville, Spain, City of
•   (only first 3 shown)
Hawker's Poor Man's Dictionary
• City
• Cities of Refuge
People's Bible Dictionary
• Cities of Refuge
• Cities
Smith Bible Dictionary
• Treasure-cities
• Salt The City of
• Refuge Cities of
•   (only first 3 shown)
Vines' Expository Dictionary
• City
• City
Wilson's Bible Types
• City
Webster Dictionary
• Reserve City
• City
• Cities
•   (only first 3 shown)
Watson's Theological Dictionary
• Cities
• Cities of Refuge
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Arkansas City
• Atlantic City
• Baker City
•   (only first 3 shown)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
• Adam, City of
• Arba, City of
• Cities of Refuge
•   (only first 3 shown)
Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia
• Cities of Refuge
• Refuge Cities of
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Adam (the City).
• Chariot-Cities
• Cities
•   (only first 3 shown)
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
• Bay City
• Cities of Refuge
• Cities of the Plain
•   (only first 3 shown)
The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Archdiocese of Oregon City
• Cities of Refuge
• Diocese of Baker City
•   (only first 3 shown)
The Jewish Encyclopedia
• Cities of Refuge
• City
• David, City of
•   (only first 3 shown)
Lexicons
• ܟ݁ܶܪܟ݁ܶܐ
• ܡܕ݂ܺܝܢ݈ܬ݁ܳܐ
• αὐτός
• ἐκεῖ
• μητρόπολις
•   (only first 3 shown)
• אַמָּה
• מִבְדָּלוֹת
• מִבְצָר , מִבְצָר
•   (only first 3 shown)

‛Iyr (עָיַר, Strong's #5892), “city; town; village; quarter [of a city].” Cognates of this word appear in Ugaritic, Phoenician, Sumerian, and old Arabic. This noun occurs about 1,092 times and in every period of biblical Hebrew.The word suggests a “village.” An unwalled village is represented by the Hebrew word chatser. Qiryat, a synonym of ‛ı̂yr is an Aramaic loanword.

But ‛ı̂yr and its synonym do not necessarily suggest a walled city. This usage is seen in Deut. 3:5, where ‛ı̂yr may be a city standing in the open country (perhaps surrounded by dirt or stone ramparts for protection): “All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many.” A comparison of Lev. 25:29 and Lev. 25:31 shows that ‛ı̂yr can be used as synonym of chatser: “And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; … but the houses of the villages [chatser] which have no wall round about them shall be counted as the fields of the country.…”

‛Iyr can signify not only a “village consisting of permanent houses” but also one in a permanent place, even though the dwellings are tents: “And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley” (1 Sam. 15:5).

In Gen. 4:17 (the first occurrence), the word ‛ı̂yr means a “permanent dwelling center” consisting of residences of stone and clay. As a rule, there are no political overtones to the word; ‛ı̂yr simply represents the “place where people dwell on a permanent basis.” At some points, however, ‛ı̂yr represents a political entity (1 Sam. 15:5; 30:29).

This word can represent “those who live in a given town”: “And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out” (1 Sam. 4:13).

‛Iyr can also signify only “a part of a city,” such as a part that is surrounded by a wall: “Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion: the same is the city of David” (2 Sam. 5:7). Ancient cities (especially larger ones) were sometimes divided into sections (quarters) by walls, in order to make it more difficult to capture them. This suggests that, by the time of the statement just cited, ‛ı̂yr normally implied a “walled city.”