and saying, “You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! ¹  If you are God’s Son, come down ²  from the cross!”

Those who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,

For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build ¹  an embankment ²  against you and surround you and close in on you from every side.

It is the same with you. Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, ¹  seek to abound in order to strengthen the church.

So know and understand: From the issuing of the command ¹  to restore and rebuild Jerusalem ²  until an anointed one, a prince arrives, ³  there will be a period of seven weeks ⁴  and sixty-two weeks. It will again be built, ⁵  with plaza and moat, but in distressful times.

So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter this city, nor will he shoot an arrow here. ¹  He will not attack it with his shielded warriors, ²  nor will he build siege works against it.

Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt; ¹  you will reestablish the ancient foundations. You will be called, ‘The one who repairs broken walls, the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’ ² 

All of this is because ¹  the Lord who rules over all ²  has said: ‘Cut down the trees around Jerusalem and build up a siege ramp against its walls. ³  This is the city which is to be punished. ⁴  Nothing but oppression happens in it. ⁵ 

He will kill your daughters in the field with the sword. He will build a siege wall against you, erect a siege ramp against you, and raise a great shield against you.

From that land he went ¹  to Assyria, ²  where he built Nineveh, ³  Rehoboth-Ir, ⁴  Calah, ⁵ 

Then Saul built an altar for the Lord; it was the first time he had built an altar for the Lord.

He finished building the temple ¹  and covered it ²  with rafters ³  and boards made of cedar. ⁴ 

He made storerooms for the harvest of grain, wine, and olive oil, and stalls for all his various kinds of livestock and his flocks. ¹ 

Because of laziness the roof ¹  caves in, and because of idle hands ²  the house leaks.

The city’s ¹  wall is made ²  of jasper and the city is pure gold, like transparent glass. ³ 

It was handed over ¹  to the foremen who used it to repair the Lord’s temple.

So this is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria: “He will not enter this city, nor will he shoot an arrow here. ¹  He will not attack it with his shield-carrying warriors, ²  nor will he build siege works against it.

Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak ¹  and his priestly colleagues ²  and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his colleagues ³  started to build ⁴  the altar of the God of Israel so they could offer burnt offerings on it as required by ⁵  the law of Moses the man of God.

They responded to us in the following way: ‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth. We are rebuilding the temple which was previously built many years ago. A great king ¹  of Israel built it and completed it.

Then Eliashib the high priest and his priestly colleagues ¹  arose and built the Sheep Gate. They dedicated ²  it and erected its doors, working as far as the Tower of the Hundred ³  and ⁴  the Tower of Hananel.