For the fortified city ¹  is left alone; it is a deserted settlement and abandoned like the desert. Calves ²  graze there; they lie down there and eat its branches bare. ³ 

Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns; thickets and weeds will grow ¹  in her fortified cities. Jackals will settle there; ostriches will live there. ² 

“O afflicted one, driven away, ¹  and unconsoled! Look, I am about to set your stones in antimony and I lay your foundation with lapis-lazuli.

By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself; you have amassed gold and silver in your treasuries.

Then he said to me, “These are the houses for boiling, where the ministers of the temple boil the sacrifices of the people.”

There is only cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery. They resort to violence and bloodshed. ¹ 

The grains of seed ¹  have shriveled beneath their shovels. ²  Storehouses have been decimated and granaries have been torn down, for the grain has dried up.

For you took my silver and my gold and brought my precious valuables to your own palaces. ¹ 

“They do not know how to do what is right.” (The Lord is speaking.) “They store up ¹  the spoils of destructive violence ²  in their fortresses.

Therefore,” says the sovereign Lord, “an enemy will encircle the land. ¹  He will take away your power; ²  your fortresses will be looted.”

The one who builds his house by unjust gain is as good as dead. ¹  He does this so he can build his nest way up high and escape the clutches of disaster. ² 

What ¹  did you go out to see? A man dressed in fancy ²  clothes? ³  Look, those who wear fancy clothes and live in luxury ⁴  are in kings’ courts! ⁵ 

Then ¹  he said, ‘I ²  will do this: I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

Every day ¹  they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, ²  breaking bread from ³  house to house, sharing their food with glad ⁴  and humble hearts, ⁵ 

who must be silenced because they mislead whole families by teaching for dishonest gain what ought not to be taught.

to be self-controlled, ¹  pure, fulfilling their duties at home, ²  kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the message ³  of God may not be discredited. ⁴ 

By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, ¹  so that the one who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.

These are the land assignments which Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the Israelite tribal leaders ¹  made by drawing lots in Shiloh before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ²  So they finished dividing up the land.

As for the Hebronites: Jeriah was the leader of the Hebronites according to the genealogical records. In the fortieth year of David’s reign, they examined the records and discovered ¹  there were highly respected men in Jazer in Gilead.

I ¹  said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning, ²  until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them. ³  Position residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their guard stations and some near their homes.”