I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. I will make mention of Rahab - The meaning seems to be, Rahab, i.e., Egypt, Babylon, Tyre, Philistia, and Ethiopia are not so honorable as Jerusalem. To be born in any of them is no privilege when compared with being a native of Jerusalem: their cities are but heads of villages; Jerusalem alone is a City. I have met with a very similar sentiment in a Persian work, of which I know not the author:
Tche Mesr, o tche Sham, o tche Birr o Buhr.
Heme rustaee and, we Sheerazee Shuhr.
What celebrity can Egypt or Syria, or any thingon earth or on the sea, pretend to?
"When compared to Sheeraz, those are but villages, but this alone is a City."
The meaning seems to be the same in both the Hebrew and Persian poet.