When all our enemies heard and all the nations who were around us saw ¹  this, they were greatly disheartened. ²  They knew that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.

The second choir was proceeding ¹  in the opposite direction. I followed them, along with half the people, on top of the wall, past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall,

The Lord is my high ridge, ¹  my stronghold, ²  my deliverer. My God is my rocky summit where ³  I take shelter, ⁴  my shield, the horn that saves me, ⁵  and my refuge. ⁶ 

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon. Descend from the crest of Amana, from the top of Senir, the summit of Hermon, from the lions’ dens and the mountain haunts of the leopards.

Your land is devastated, your cities burned with fire. Right before your eyes your crops are being destroyed by foreign invaders. ¹  They leave behind devastation and destruction. ² 

Indeed, the waters of Dimon ¹  are full of blood! Indeed, I will heap even more trouble on Dimon. ²  A lion will attack ³  the Moabite fugitives and the people left in the land.

Look at the land of the Chaldeans, these people who have lost their identity! ¹  The Assyrians have made it a home for wild animals. They erected their siege towers, ²  demolished ³  its fortresses, and turned it into a heap of ruins. ⁴ 

Those who try to hide their plans from the Lord are as good as dead, ¹  who do their work in secret and boast, ²  “Who sees us? Who knows what we’re doing?” 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 

But those who wait for the Lord’s help ¹  find renewed strength; they rise up as if they had eagles’ wings, ²  they run without growing weary, they walk without getting tired.

So he poured out his fierce anger on them, along with the devastation ¹  of war. Its flames encircled them, but they did not realize it; ²  it burned against them, but they did notice. ³ 

Leave! Leave! Get out of there! Don’t touch anything unclean! Get out of it! Stay pure, you who carry the Lord’s holy items! ¹ 

Yet do not depart quickly or leave in a panic. ¹  For the Lord goes before you; the God of Israel is your rear guard.

Then your light will shine like the sunrise; ¹  your restoration will quickly arrive; ²  your godly behavior ³  will go before you, and the Lord’s splendor will be your rear guard. ⁴ 

So then I, the Lord who rules over all, ¹  have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem: ²  ‘I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. ³  For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason ⁴  that ungodliness ⁵  has spread throughout the land.’”

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 

the wars you fear will catch up with you there in the land of Egypt. The starvation you are worried about will follow you there to ¹  Egypt. You will die there. ² 

But Baruch son of Neriah is stirring you up against us. ¹  He wants to hand us over ²  to the Babylonians ³  so that they will kill us or carry us off into exile in Babylon.”

“‘This is because they have led my people astray saying, “All is well,” ¹  when things are not well. When anyone builds a wall without mortar, ²  they coat it with whitewash.

They will console you when you see their behavior and their deeds, because you will know that it was not without reason that I have done everything which I have done in it, declares the sovereign Lord.”