Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah worked on the Jeshanah Gate. ¹  They laid its beams and positioned its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

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.

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.

After him Malkijah, one of the goldsmiths, worked as far as the house of the temple servants and the traders, opposite the Inspection Gate, ¹  and up to the room above the corner.

even when they made a cast image of a calf for themselves and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up from Egypt,’ or when they committed atrocious ¹  blasphemies.

“Nonetheless they grew disobedient and rebelled against you; they disregarded your law. ¹  They killed your prophets who had solemnly admonished them in order to cause them to return to you. They committed atrocious blasphemies.

and their colleagues ¹  who were carrying out work for the temple – 822; and Adaiah son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malkijah,

All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and those who performed the king’s business were assisting the Jews, for the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them.

But when the matter came to the king’s attention, the king ¹  gave written orders that Haman’s ²  evil intentions that he had devised against the Jews should fall on his own head. He and his sons were hanged on the gallows.

How great is your favor, ¹  which you store up for your loyal followers! ²  In plain sight of everyone you bestow it on those who take shelter ³  in you. ⁴ 

Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished ¹  and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it, ²  I concluded: ³  “All these ⁴  achievements and possessions ⁵  are ultimately ⁶  profitless ⁷  – like chasing the wind! There is nothing gained ⁸  from them ⁹  on earth.”

Who knows if he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet ¹  he will be master over all the fruit of ²  my labor ³  for which I worked so wisely ⁴  on earth! ⁵  This also is futile!

I also know that whatever God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken away from it. God has made it this way, so that men will fear him.

I will make it a wasteland; no one will prune its vines or hoe its ground, ¹  and thorns and briers will grow there. I will order the clouds not to drop any rain on it.

They will stay away from all the hills that were cultivated, for fear of the thorns and briers. ¹  Cattle will graze there and sheep will trample on them. ² 

Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea ¹  says this, O fortress of the sea: “I have not gone into labor or given birth; I have not raised young men or brought up young women.” ² 

O Lord, you are my God! ¹  I will exalt you in praise, I will extol your fame. ²  For you have done extraordinary things, and executed plans made long ago exactly as you decreed. ³ 

¹ Certainly you must have heard! ²  Long ago I worked it out, in ancient times I planned ³  it, and now I am bringing it to pass. The plan is this: Fortified cities will crash into heaps of ruins. ⁴ 

He sees there is no advocate; ¹  he is shocked ²  that no one intervenes. So he takes matters into his own hands; ³  his desire for justice drives him on. ⁴ 

I looked, but there was no one to help; I was shocked because there was no one offering support. ¹  So my right arm accomplished deliverance; my raging anger drove me on. ²