After them Benjamin and Hasshub worked opposite their house. After them Azariah son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, worked near his house.

Consider its defenses! ¹  Walk through ²  its fortresses, so you can tell the next generation about it! ³ 

They say, “Let’s attack Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it. ¹  Then we’ll set up the son of Tabeel as its king.” ² 

Indeed, ¹  you have made the city ²  into a heap of rubble, the fortified town into a heap of ruins; the fortress of foreigners ³  is no longer a city, it will never be rebuilt.

The Lord says, ¹  “Army of Babylon, ²  go and attack a nation that lives in peace and security. They have no gates or walls to protect them. ³  They live all alone.

Tell the ones who coat it with whitewash that it will fall. When there is a deluge of rain, hailstones ¹  will fall and a violent wind will break out. ² 

Men of Persia, Lud, ¹  and Put were in your army, men of war. They hung shield and helmet on you; they gave you your splendor.

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

Then he went to the gate facing east. He climbed its steps and measured the threshold of the gate as 10½ feet deep. ¹ 

Then he brought me to the outer court. I saw ¹  chambers there, and a pavement made for the court all around; thirty chambers faced the pavement.

There were windows all around it and its porches, like the windows of the others; ¹  87½ feet ²  long and 43¾ feet ³  wide.

There were seven steps going up to it; its porches were in front of them. It had decorative palm trees on its jambs, one on either side.

On the outside of the porch as one goes up at the entrance of the north gate were two tables, and on the other side of the porch of the gate were two tables.

There were narrow windows and decorative palm trees on either side of the side walls of the porch; this is what the side chambers of the temple and the canopies were like.

Then he led me out to the outer court, toward the north, and brought me to the chamber which was opposite the courtyard and opposite the building on the north.

In the four corners of the court were small ¹  courts, 70 feet ²  in length and 52½ feet ³  in width; the four were all the same size.

Now the wise men and ¹  astrologers were brought before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation. But they were unable to disclose the interpretation of the message.

“I will turn Samaria ¹  into a heap of ruins in an open field – vineyards will be planted there! ²  I will tumble ³  the rubble of her stone walls ⁴  down into the valley, and tear down her fortifications to their foundations. ⁵ 

Draw yourselves water for a siege! ¹  Strengthen your fortifications! Trample the mud ²  and tread the clay! Make mud bricks to strengthen your walls! ³ 

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.