Hezekiah ¹  energetically rebuilt ²  every broken wall. He erected towers and an outer wall, ³  and fortified the terrace of the City of David. ⁴  He made many weapons and shields.

He put an idolatrous image he had made in God’s temple, about which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “This temple in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will be my permanent home. ¹ 

After this Manasseh ¹  built up the outer wall of the City of David ²  on the west side of the Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate and all around the terrace; he made it much higher. He placed army officers in all the fortified cities in Judah.

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his ancestor ¹  David. In his twelfth year he began ridding ²  Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, Asherah poles, idols, and images.

The musicians, the descendants of Asaph, manned their posts, as prescribed by David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s prophet. ¹  The guards at the various gates did not need to leave their posts, for their fellow Levites made preparations for them.

When the builders established the Lord’s temple, the priests, ceremonially attired and with their clarions, ¹  and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with their cymbals, stood to praise the Lord according to the instructions left by ²  King David of Israel. ³ 

Shallun son of Col-Hozeh, head of the district of Mizpah, worked on the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it, put on its roof, and positioned its doors, its bolts, and its bars. In addition, he rebuilt the wall of the Pool of Siloam, ¹  by the royal garden, as far as the steps that go down from the City of David.

For the music director; a psalm of David, written when Nathan the prophet confronted him after David’s affair with Bathsheba. ²  Have mercy on me, O God, because of ³  your loyal love! Because of ⁴  your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! ⁵ 

Then ¹  tell them, ‘The Lord says, “I will soon fill all the people who live in this land with stupor. ²  I will also fill the kings from David’s dynasty, ³  the priests, the prophets, and the citizens of Jerusalem with stupor. ⁴ 

If you do this, ¹  then the kings and princes who follow in David’s succession ²  and ride in chariots or on horses will continue to enter through these gates, as well as their officials and the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. ³  This city will always be filled with people. ⁴ 

O royal family descended from David. ¹  The Lord says: ‘See to it that people each day ²  are judged fairly. ³  Deliver those who have been robbed from those ⁴  who oppress them. Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you. It will burn like a fire that cannot be put out because of the evil that you have done. ⁵ 

So the Lord says concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah, “None of his line will occupy the throne of David. ¹  His dead body will be thrown out to be exposed to scorching heat by day and frost by night. ² 

They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your fathers lived; they will live in it – they and their children and their grandchildren forever. David my servant will be prince over them forever.

“I will pour out on the kingship ¹  of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, ²  the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. ³ 

When he had contemplated this, an ¹  angel of the Lord ²  appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Achish replied to David, “I am convinced that you are as reliable ¹  as the angel of God! However, the leaders of the Philistines have said, ‘He must not go up with us in the battle.’

David ¹  left Asaph and his colleagues there before the ark of the Lord’s covenant to serve before the ark regularly and fulfill each day’s requirements, ² 

For the music director; according to the alumoth-labben style; ²  a psalm of David. I will thank the Lord with all my heart! I will tell about all your amazing deeds! ³ 

For the music director; according to the sheminith style; ²  a psalm of David. Deliver, Lord! For the godly ³  have disappeared; ⁴  people of integrity ⁵  have vanished. ⁶ 

For the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” ²  a psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? ³  I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. ⁴