Hanun and the residents of Zanoah worked on the Valley Gate. They rebuilt it and positioned its doors, its bolts, and its bars, in addition to working on fifteen hundred feet ¹  of the wall as far as the Dung Gate.

Israel was a fertile vine that yielded fruit. As his fruit multiplied, he multiplied altars to Baal. ¹  As his land prospered, they adorned the fertility pillars.

But Israel did not burn any of the cities located on mounds, ¹  except for Hazor; ²  it was the only one Joshua burned.

He also built high places on the hills of Judah; he encouraged the residents of Jerusalem to be unfaithful to the Lord ¹  and led Judah away from the Lord. ² 

Let the king also be aware that if this city is built and its walls are completed, no more tax, custom, or toll will be paid, and the royal treasury ¹  will suffer loss.

Malkijah son of Recab, head of the district of Beth Hakkerem, worked on the Dung Gate. He rebuilt it and positioned its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

“‘This is because they have led my people astray saying, “All is well,” ¹  when things are not well. When anyone builds a wall without mortar, ²  they coat it with whitewash.

I will make you a bare rock; you will be a place where fishing nets are spread. You will never be built again, ¹  for I, the Lord, have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord.

The Lord who rules over all ¹  says this: “These people have said, ‘The time for rebuilding the Lord’s temple has not yet come.’” ² 

Then ¹  the church throughout Judea, Galilee, ²  and Samaria experienced ³  peace and thus was strengthened. ⁴  Living ⁵  in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, the church ⁶  increased in numbers.

During Ahab’s reign, ¹  Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho. ²  Abiram, his firstborn son, died when he laid the foundation; ³  Segub, his youngest son, died when he erected its gates, ⁴  just as the Lord had warned ⁵  through Joshua son of Nun. ⁶ 

Shallun son of Col-Hozeh, head of the district of Mizpah, worked on the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it, put on its roof, and positioned its doors, its bolts, and its bars. In addition, he rebuilt the wall of the Pool of Siloam, ¹  by the royal garden, as far as the steps that go down from the City of David.

Haman’s ¹  wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows seventy-five feet ²  high built, and in the morning tell the king that Mordecai should be hanged on it. Then go with the king to the banquet contented.” ³  It seemed like a good idea to Haman, so he had the gallows built.

So Potiphar ¹  left ²  everything he had in Joseph’s care; ³  he gave no thought ⁴  to anything except the food he ate. ⁵  Now Joseph was well built and good-looking. ⁶ 

“The entire community of the Lord says, ‘Why have you disobeyed the God of Israel by turning back today from following the Lord? You built an altar for yourselves and have rebelled today against the Lord. ¹ 

So Joab’s men ¹  came and laid siege against him in Abel of Beth Maacah. They prepared a siege ramp outside the city which stood against its outer rampart. As all of Joab’s soldiers were trying to break through ²  the wall so that it would collapse,

Josiah also removed all the shrines on the high places in the cities of Samaria. The kings of Israel had made them and angered the Lord. ¹  He did to them what he had done to the high place in Bethel. ² 

When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and no breach remained in it (even though up to that time I had not positioned doors in the gates),

The king made a large throne decorated with ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.

that does not respond to ¹  the magicians, or to a skilled snake-charmer.