“I destroyed ¹  nations; their walled cities ²  are in ruins. I turned their streets into ruins; no one passes through them. Their cities are desolate; ³  no one lives there. ⁴ 

You have broken down all his ¹  walls; you have made his strongholds a heap of ruins.

Do not give your strength ¹  to women, nor your ways ²  to that which ruins ³  kings.

Lambs ¹  will graze as if in their pastures, amid the ruins the rich sojourners will graze. ² 

The city is left in ruins; ¹  the gate is reduced to rubble. ² 

Your prophets have become like jackals among the ruins, O Israel.

In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins ¹  around them,

Hurry and look ¹  at the permanent ruins, and all the damage the enemy has done to the temple! ² 

I am like an owl ¹  in the wilderness; I am like a screech owl ²  among the ruins. ³ 

Indeed, ¹  your servants take delight in her stones, and feel compassion for ²  the dust of her ruins. ³ 

Here is a message about Damascus: “Look, Damascus is no longer a city, it is a heap of ruins!

In unison give a joyful shout, O ruins of Jerusalem! For the Lord consoles his people; he protects ¹  Jerusalem.

“Is it right for you to live in richly paneled houses ¹  while my temple is in ruins? ² 

The enemy’s cities have been reduced to permanent ruins; ¹  you destroyed their cities; ²  all memory of the enemies has perished. ³ 

Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs; ¹  you have covered us with darkness. ² 

A psalm of Asaph. O God, foreigners ²  have invaded your chosen land; ³  they have polluted your holy temple and turned Jerusalem ⁴  into a heap of ruins.

I replied, “How long, sovereign master?” He said, “Until cities are in ruins and unpopulated, and houses are uninhabited, and the land is ruined and devastated,

Wild animals will rest there, the ruined ¹  houses will be full of hyenas. ²  Ostriches will live there, wild goats will skip among the ruins. ³ 

Look, the Lord is ready to devastate the earth and leave it in ruins; he will mar its surface and scatter its inhabitants.

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.