Street

Streets in the ancient biblical world were rarely the paved, organized thoroughfares of modern imagination; most were narrow, unpaved lanes between houses, used for commerce, communication, and social life. The most famous street in the New Testament is "the street called Straight" at Damascus (Acts 9:11), identified with the long east-west colonnade that formed the principal thoroughfare of the Hellenistic-Roman city, still preserved in its general line in modern Damascus. It was there that Saul of Tarsus, struck blind on the road to Damascus, was brought to the house of Judas to wait for Ananias.

The street was also the venue of public proclamation, mourning, religious display, and commercial transaction. Jesus criticizes those who pray standing on street corners to be seen (Matt. 6:5), while the master in the parable sends servants to the streets and lanes of the city to compel guests for the wedding feast (Luke 14:21). The broad street (plateia) of the heavenly Jerusalem flows with the river of life (Rev. 22:2), where God's servants will walk in eternal day.