They will say, “This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; the ruined, desolate, and destroyed cities are now fortified and inhabited.”

They enthroned kings without my consent! ¹  They appointed princes without my approval! ²  They made idols out of their silver and gold, but they will be destroyed! ³ 

So will it happen to you, O Bethel, ¹  because of your great wickedness! When that day dawns, ²  the king of Israel will be destroyed. ³ 

The crops of the fields ¹  have been destroyed. ²  The ground is in mourning because the grain has perished. The fresh wine has dried up; the olive oil languishes.

Even the wild animals ¹  cry out to you; ²  for the river beds ³  have dried up; fire has destroyed ⁴  the grassy pastures. ⁵ 

For the Lord will restore ¹  the majesty ²  of Jacob, as well as ³  the majesty of Israel, though ⁴  their enemies have plundered them ⁵  and have destroyed their fields. ⁶ 

“I destroyed ¹  nations; their walled cities ²  are in ruins. I turned their streets into ruins; no one passes through them. Their cities are desolate; ³  no one lives there. ⁴ 

Howl, fir tree, because the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees have been destroyed. Howl, oaks of Bashan, because the impenetrable forest has fallen.

Listen to the howling of shepherds, because their magnificence has been destroyed. Listen to the roaring of young lions, because the thickets of the Jordan have been devastated.

They ¹  will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you are destroyed. They will not leave you with any grain, new wine, olive oil, calves of your herds, ²  or lambs of your flocks ³  until they have destroyed you.

The destroyer is as good as dead, ¹  you who have not been destroyed! The deceitful one is as good as dead, ²  the one whom others have not deceived! When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed; when you finish ³  deceiving, others will deceive you!

Vent your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you. ¹  Vent it on the peoples ²  who do not worship you. ³  For they have destroyed the people of Jacob. ⁴  They have completely destroyed them ⁵  and left their homeland in utter ruin.

ו (Vav) He destroyed his temple ¹  as if it were a vineyard; ²  he destroyed his appointed meeting place. The Lord has made those in Zion forget both the festivals and the Sabbaths. ³  In his fierce anger ⁴  he has spurned ⁵  both king and priest.

At dawn ¹  the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, ²  or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!” ³ 

When they had brought them outside, they ¹  said, “Run ²  for your lives! Don’t look ³  behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! ⁴  Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!”

Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long ¹  will this man be a menace ²  to us? Release the people so that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not know ³  that Egypt is destroyed?”

because all the firstborn are mine. When I destroyed ¹  all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I set apart for myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They belong to me. I am the Lord.” ² 

For all the firstborn males among the Israelites are mine, both humans and animals; when I destroyed ¹  all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I set them apart for myself.

And he said to the community, “Move away from the tents of these wicked ¹  men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed because ²  of all their sins.” ³ 

The Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, ¹  and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of the place was called ²  Hormah.