when the Lord rebuilds Zion, and reveals his splendor,

when he established the clouds above, when the fountains of the deep grew strong, ¹ 

I constructed pools of water for myself, to irrigate my grove ¹  of flourishing trees.

He has besieged ¹  and surrounded ²  me with bitter hardship. ³ 

For this reason ¹  I kneel ²  before the Father, ³ 

By faith Noah, when he was warned about things not yet seen, with reverent regard ¹  constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family. Through faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

He made a colonnade ¹  75 feet ²  long and 45 feet ³  wide. There was a porch in front of this and pillars and a roof in front of the porch. ⁴ 

He also made a throne room, called “The Hall of Judgment,” where he made judicial decisions. ¹  It was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters. ² 

All of these were built with the best ¹  stones, chiseled to the right size ²  and cut with a saw on all sides, ³  from the foundation to the edge of the roof ⁴  and from the outside to the great courtyard.

The rest of the events of Hezekiah’s reign and all his accomplishments, including how he built a pool and conduit to bring ¹  water into the city, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. ² 

who were rebuilding the wall. ¹  Those who were carrying loads did so ²  by keeping one hand on the work and the other on their weapon.

You have not gone up in the breaks in the wall, nor repaired a wall for the house of Israel that it would stand strong in the battle on the day of the Lord.

They crafted ¹  all your planks out of fir trees from Senir; ²  they took a cedar from Lebanon to make your mast.

Then he brought me to the outer court. I saw ¹  chambers there, and a pavement made for the court all around; thirty chambers faced the pavement.

Their wealth will be stolen and their houses ruined! They will not live in the houses they have built, nor will they drink the wine from the vineyards they have planted.

So now we consider the arrogant to be happy; indeed, those who practice evil are successful. ¹  In fact, those who challenge ²  God escape!’”

For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, ¹  is dismantled, ²  we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens.

He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just like King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky ¹  and worshiped ²  them.

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.

Even now siege ramps have been built up around the city ¹  in order to capture it. War, ²  starvation, and disease are sure to make the city fall into the hands of the Babylonians ³  who are attacking it. ⁴  Lord, ⁵  you threatened that this would happen. Now you can see that it is already taking place. ⁶