The land ¹  dries up ²  and withers away; the forest of Lebanon shrivels up ³  and decays. Sharon ⁴  is like the desert; ⁵  Bashan and Carmel ⁶  are parched. ⁷ 

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

He was buried in the tomb he had carved out in the City of David. ¹  They laid him to rest on a bier covered with spices and assorted mixtures of ointments. They made a huge bonfire to honor him. ² 

‘What right do you have to be here? What relatives do you have buried here? ¹  Why ²  do you chisel out a tomb for yourself here? He chisels out his burial site in an elevated place, he carves out his tomb on a cliff.

“Do so because my people have committed a double wrong: they have rejected me, the fountain of life-giving water, ¹  and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.”

By royal order ¹  they supplied large valuable stones in order to build the temple’s foundation with chiseled stone.

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.

David ordered the resident foreigners in the land of Israel to be called together. He appointed some of them to be stonecutters to chisel stones for the building of God’s temple.

with three layers of large stones ¹  and one ²  layer of timber. The expense is to be subsidized ³  by the royal treasury. ⁴ 

Then ¹  our sons will be like plants, that quickly grow to full size. ²  Our daughters will be like corner pillars, ³  carved like those in a palace. ⁴ 

Even now the ax is laid at ¹  the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees, ¹  and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be ²  cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Let it be known to the king that we have gone to the province of Judah, to the temple of the great God. It is being built with large stones, ¹  and timbers are being placed in the walls. This work is being done with all diligence and is prospering in their hands.

“At that time,” ¹  says the Lord who commands armies, “the peg fastened into a solid place will come loose. It will be cut off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off.” ²  Indeed, ³  the Lord has spoken.

In all your dwellings, the cities will be laid waste and the high places ruined so that your altars will be laid waste and ruined, your idols will be shattered and demolished, your incense altars will be broken down, and your works wiped out. ¹