The king tore down the altars the kings of Judah had set up on the roof of Ahaz’s upper room, as well as the altars Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the Lord’s temple. He crushed them up ¹  and threw the dust in the Kidron Valley.

The enemy broke through the city walls, ¹  and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. ²  They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden. ³  (The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. ⁴ 

These were the descendants of Levi according to their families, that is, the leaders of families as counted and individually listed who carried out assigned tasks in the Lord’s temple and were twenty years old and up. ¹ 

The Lord God of Israel chose me out of my father’s entire family to become king over Israel and have a permanent dynasty. ¹  Indeed, ²  he chose Judah as leader, and my father’s family within Judah, and then he picked me out from among my father’s sons and made me king over all Israel. ³ 

When all the Israelites saw the fire come down and the Lord’s splendor over the temple, they got on their knees with their faces downward toward the pavement. They worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, ¹  “Certainly he is good; certainly his loyal love endures!”

He prayed: “O Lord God of our ancestors, ¹  you are the God who lives in heaven ²  and rules over all the kingdoms of the nations. You possess strength and power; no one can stand against you.

For the fate of humans ¹  and the fate of animals are the same: As one dies, so dies the other; both have the same breath. There is no advantage for humans over animals, for both are fleeting.

But she is unique! ¹  My dove, my perfect one! She is the special daughter ²  of her mother, she is the favorite ³  of the one who bore her. The maidens ⁴  saw her and complimented her; ⁵  the queens and concubines praised her:

Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it, or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? ¹  As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it, or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!

The one who runs away from the sound of the terror will fall into the pit; ¹  the one who climbs out of the pit, will be trapped by the snare. For the floodgates of the heavens ²  are opened up ³  and the foundations of the earth shake.

Look up at the sky! Look at the earth below! For the sky will dissipate ¹  like smoke, and the earth will wear out like clothes; its residents will die like gnats. But the deliverance I give ²  is permanent; the vindication I provide ³  will not disappear. ⁴ 

The terror you inspire in others ¹  and the arrogance of your heart have deceived you. You may make your home in the clefts of the rocks; you may occupy the highest places in the hills. ²  But even if you made your home where the eagles nest, I would bring you down from there,” says the Lord.

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 

Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel ¹  (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant ²  vapors from a cloud of incense were swirling upward.

For this reason no watered trees will grow so tall; their tops will not reach into the clouds, nor will the well-watered ones grow that high. ¹  For all of them have been appointed to die in the lower parts of the earth; ²  they will be among mere mortals, ³  with those who descend to the pit.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry ¹  about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing?

After noticing a fig tree ¹  by the road he went to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, “Never again will there be fruit from you!” And the fig tree withered at once.

I have applied these things to myself and Apollos because of you, brothers and sisters, ¹  so that through us you may learn “not to go beyond what is written,” so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of the one against the other.

No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. ¹  And God is faithful: He ²  will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, ³  but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it.

The angel ¹  then ²  threw him into the abyss and locked ³  and sealed it so that he could not deceive the nations until the one thousand years were finished. (After these things he must be released for a brief period of time.)