In a time of prosperity for the most productive areas of the province he will come and accomplish what neither his fathers nor their fathers accomplished. He will distribute loot, spoils, and property to his followers, and he will devise plans against fortified cities, but not for long. ¹ 

For here he is! He ¹  formed the mountains and created the wind. He reveals ²  his plans ³  to men. He turns the dawn into darkness ⁴  and marches on the heights of the earth. The Lord, the God who commands armies, ⁵  is his name!”

Edom ¹  says, “Though we are devastated, we will once again build the ruined places.” So the Lord who rules over all ²  responds, “They indeed may build, but I will overthrow. They will be known as ³  the land of evil, the people with whom the Lord is permanently displeased.

“Listen, sir, ¹  you are a mighty prince ²  among us! You may bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb to prevent you ³  from burying your dead.”

Then he set up the peeled branches in all the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. He set up the branches in front of the flocks when they were in heat and came to drink. ¹ 

but he must not go into the veil-canopy ¹  or step forward to the altar because he has a physical flaw. Thus ²  he must not profane my holy places, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”

From the places where you live you must bring two loaves of ¹  bread for a wave offering; they must be made from two tenths of an ephah of fine wheat flour, baked with yeast, ²  as first fruits to the Lord.

“‘On this very day you must proclaim an assembly; it is to be a holy assembly for you. ¹  You must not do any regular work. This is a perpetual statute in all the places where you live throughout your generations. ² 

the one who was constantly going before you to find places for you to set up camp. He appeared by fire at night and cloud by day, to show you the way you ought to go.

You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, ¹  burn up their sacred Asherah poles, ²  and cut down the images of their gods; you must eliminate their very memory from that place.

The Midianites ¹  overwhelmed Israel. ²  Because of Midian the Israelites made shelters ³  for themselves in the hills, as well as caves and strongholds.

Wherever I moved throughout Israel, I did not say ¹  to any of the leaders whom I appointed to care for my people Israel, ²  ‘Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?’”’

They stood at their posts according to the regulations outlined in the law of Moses, the man of God. The priests were splashing the blood as the Levites handed it to them. ¹ 

Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah – all of whom were Levites ¹  – were teaching the people the law, as the people remained standing.

You are awe-inspiring, O God, as you emerge from your holy temple! ¹  It is the God of Israel ²  who gives the people power and strength. God deserves praise! ³ 

All of them will come and make their home ¹  in the ravines between the cliffs, and in the crevices of the cliffs, in all the thorn bushes, and in all the watering holes. ² 

who fulfills the oracles of his prophetic servants ¹  and brings to pass the announcements ²  of his messengers, who says about Jerusalem, ³  ‘She will be inhabited,’ and about the towns of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, her ruins I will raise up,’

Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt; ¹  you will reestablish the ancient foundations. You will be called, ‘The one who repairs broken walls, the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’ ² 

Then you will find joy in your relationship to the Lord, ¹  and I will give you great prosperity, ²  and cause crops to grow on the land I gave to your ancestor Jacob.” ³  Know for certain that the Lord has spoken. ⁴ 

We grope along the wall like the blind, we grope like those who cannot see; ¹  we stumble at noontime as if it were evening. Though others are strong, we are like dead men. ²