But after our ancestors ¹  angered the God of heaven, he delivered them into the hands ²  of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and exiled the people to Babylon. ³ 

“I, King Artaxerxes, hereby issue orders to all the treasurers of ¹  Trans-Euphrates, that you precisely execute all that Ezra the priestly scribe of the law of the God of heaven may request of you –

I responded to them by saying, “The God of heaven will prosper us. We his servants will start the rebuilding. ¹  But you have no just or ancient right in Jerusalem.” ² 

Do not be rash with your mouth or hasty in your heart to bring up a matter before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth! Therefore, let your words be few.

This desolation will continue until new life is poured out on us from heaven. ¹  Then the desert will become an orchard and the orchard will be considered a forest. ² 

But I, the Lord, make the following promise: ¹  I have made a covenant governing the coming of day and night. I have established the fixed laws governing heaven and earth.

But ever since we stopped sacrificing and pouring out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven, we have been in great need. Our people have died in wars or of starvation.” ¹ 

א (Alef) Alas! ¹  The Lord ²  has covered Daughter Zion ³  with his anger. ⁴  He has thrown down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he did not protect ⁵  his temple ⁶  when he displayed his anger. ⁷ 

He asked them to pray for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that he ¹  and his friends would not be destroyed along with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

it is you, ¹  O king! For you have become great and strong. Your greatness is such that it reaches to heaven, and your authority to the ends of the earth.

While these words were still on the king’s lips, ¹  a voice came down from heaven: “It is hereby announced to you, ²  King Nebuchadnezzar, that your kingdom has been removed from you!

All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing. ¹  He does as he wishes with the army of heaven and with those who inhabit the earth. No one slaps ²  his hand and says to him, ‘What have you done?’

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all his deeds are right and his ways are just. He is able to bring down those who live ¹  in pride.

It grew so big it reached the army ¹  of heaven, and it brought about the fall of some of the army and some of the stars ²  to the ground, where it trampled them.

He has carried out his threats ¹  against us and our rulers ²  who were over ³  us by bringing great calamity on us – what has happened to Jerusalem has never been equaled under all heaven!

Even if they could dig down into the netherworld, ¹  my hand would pull them up from there. Even if they could climb up to heaven, I would drag them down from there.

He builds the upper rooms of his palace ¹  in heaven and sets its foundation supports ²  on the earth. ³  He summons the water of the sea and pours it out on the earth’s surface. The Lord is his name.

But God heard the boy’s voice. ¹  The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter, ²  Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard ³  the boy’s voice right where he is crying.

so that I may make you solemnly promise ¹  by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire ²  a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living.

“The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my relatives, ¹  promised me with a solemn oath, ²  ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ He will send his angel ³  before you so that you may find ⁴  a wife for my son from there.