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.

He made for himself a large storeroom where previously they had been keeping ¹  the grain offering, the incense, and the vessels, along with the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil as commanded for the Levites, the singers, the gate keepers, and the offering for the priests.

As a result, ¹  all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate were bowing and paying homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded. However, Mordecai did not bow, ²  nor did he pay him homage.

The king then said to Haman, “Go quickly! Take the clothing and the horse, just as you have described, and do as you just indicated to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the king’s gate. Don’t neglect ¹  a single thing of all that you have said.”

However, some of the officials ¹  of Judah heard about what was happening ²  and they rushed up to the Lord’s temple from the royal palace. They set up court ³  at the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord’s temple. ⁴ 

The whole valley where dead bodies and sacrificial ashes are thrown ¹  and all the terraced fields ²  out to the Kidron Valley ³  on the east as far north ⁴  as the Horse Gate ⁵  will be included within this city that is sacred to the Lord. ⁶  The city will never again be torn down or destroyed.”

At that time Baruch went into the temple of the Lord. He stood in the entrance of the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan who had been the royal secretary. ¹  That room was in the upper court ²  near the entrance of the New Gate. ³  There, where all the people could hear him, he read from the scroll what Jeremiah had said. ⁴ 

But he only got as far as the Benjamin Gate. ¹  There an officer in charge of the guards named Irijah, ²  who was the son of Shelemiah and the grandson of Hananiah, stopped him. He seized Jeremiah and said, ³  “You are deserting to the Babylonians!” ⁴ 

Then Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim, who was a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer, who was a high official, ¹  and all the other officers of the king of Babylon came and set up quarters ²  in the Middle Gate. ³ 

When King Zedekiah of Judah and all his soldiers saw them, they tried to escape. They departed from the city during the night. They took a path through the king’s garden and passed out through the gate between the two walls. ¹  Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ² 

They broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden. ¹  (The Babylonians had the city surrounded.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ² 

He stretched out the form ¹  of a hand and grabbed me by a lock of hair on my head. Then a wind ²  lifted me up between the earth and sky and brought me to Jerusalem ³  by means of divine visions, to the door of the inner gate which faces north where the statue ⁴  which provokes to jealousy was located.

Next, I noticed ¹  six men ²  coming from the direction of the upper gate ³  which faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit ⁴  at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar.

The cherubim spread ¹  their wings, and they rose up from the earth ²  while I watched (when they went the wheels went alongside them). They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the Lord’s temple as the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them.

Then he brought me to the porch of the temple and measured the jambs of the porch as 8¾ feet ¹  on either side, and the width of the gate was 24½ feet ²  and the sides ³  were 5¼ feet ⁴  on each side.

The priest will take some of the blood of the sin offering and place it on the doorpost of the temple, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the doorpost of the gate of the inner court.

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: The gate of the inner court that faces east ¹  will be closed six working days, but on the Sabbath day it will be opened and on the day of the new moon it will be opened.

I will break the bar ¹  on the gate of Damascus. I will remove ²  the ruler ³  from Wicked Valley, ⁴  the one who holds the royal scepter from Beth Eden. ⁵  The people of Aram will be deported to Kir.” ⁶  The Lord has spoken!

After they had passed the first and second guards, ¹  they came to the iron ²  gate leading into the city. It ³  opened for them by itself, ⁴  and they went outside and walked down one narrow street, ⁵  when at once the angel left him.

On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate to the side of the river, where we thought there would be a place of prayer, and we sat down ¹  and began to speak ²  to the women ³  who had assembled there. ⁴