The king replied ¹  to the wise men, “My decision is firm. ²  If you do not inform me of both the dream and its interpretation, you will be dismembered ³  and your homes reduced to rubble!

I hereby decree ¹  that any people, nation, or language group that blasphemes ²  the god of Shadrach, Meshach, or Abednego will be dismembered and his home reduced to rubble! For there exists no other god who can deliver in this way.”

Flocks and herds ¹  will lie down in the middle of it, as well as every kind of wild animal. ²  Owls ³  will sleep in the tops of its support pillars; they will hoot through the windows. ⁴  Rubble will cover the thresholds; ⁵  even the cedar work ⁶  will be exposed to the elements. ⁷ 

I will lay your cities waste ¹  and make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will refuse to smell your soothing aromas.

I passed on to the Gate of the Well and the King’s Pool, where there was not enough room for my animal to pass with me.

he lived in ruined towns ¹  and in houses where ²  no one lives, where they are ready to crumble into heaps. ³ 

when what you dread ¹  comes like a whirlwind, ²  and disaster strikes you ³  like a devastating storm, ⁴  when distressing trouble ⁵  comes on you.

They will rebuild the perpetual ruins and restore the places that were desolate; ¹  they will reestablish the ruined cities, the places that have been desolate since ancient times.

The Lord said, ¹  “I will make Jerusalem ²  a heap of ruins. Jackals will make their home there. ³  I will destroy the towns of Judah so that no one will be able to live in them.”

But Babylonia will be put to great shame. The land where you were born ¹  will be disgraced. Indeed, ²  Babylonia will become the least important of all nations. It will become a dry and barren desert.

“I will make you desolate and an object of scorn among the nations around you, in the sight of everyone who passes by.

They will destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers. I will scrape her soil ¹  from her and make her a bare rock.

I will turn Mount Seir into a desolate ruin; ¹  I will cut off ²  from it the one who passes through or returns.

They mock kings and laugh at rulers. They laugh at every fortified city; they build siege ramps ¹  and capture them.

Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left on another. ¹  All will be torn down!” ² 

“As for these things that you are gazing at, the days will come when not one stone will be left on another. ¹  All will be torn down!” ² 

The king tore down the altars the kings of Judah had set up on the roof of Ahaz’s upper room, as well as the altars Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. He crushed them up ¹  and threw the dust in the Kidron Valley.

“I hereby give orders that if anyone changes this directive a beam is to be pulled out from his house and he is to be raised up and impaled ¹  on it, and his house is to be reduced ²  to a rubbish heap ³  for this indiscretion. ⁴ 

and in the presence of his colleagues ¹  and the army of Samaria ²  he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? ³  Will they again offer sacrifice? Will they finish this in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones to life again from piles of dust?”

They will steal your wealth and loot your merchandise. They will tear down your walls and destroy your luxurious ¹  homes. Your stones, your trees, and your soil he will throw ²  into the water. ³