Around the great courtyard were three rows of chiseled stones and one row of cedar beams, like the inner courtyard of the Lord’s temple and the hall of the palace. ¹ 

as well as masons and stonecutters. They bought wood and chiseled stone to repair the damage to the Lord’s temple and also paid for all the other expenses. ¹ 

David ordered the resident foreigners in the land of Israel to be called together. He appointed some of them to be stonecutters to chisel stones for the building of God’s temple.

They gave money to the craftsmen and builders to buy chiseled stone and wood for the braces and rafters of the buildings that the kings of Judah had allowed to fall into disrepair. ¹ 

“The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with chiseled stone; the sycamore fig trees have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.” ¹ 

They have burned the gods of the nations, ¹  for they are not really gods, but only the product of human hands manufactured from wood and stone. That is why the Assyrians could destroy them. ² 

“Listen to me, you who pursue godliness, ¹  who seek the Lord! Look at the rock from which you were chiseled, at the quarry ²  from which you were dug! ³ 

For the religion ¹  of these people is worthless. They cut down a tree in the forest, and a craftsman makes it into an idol with his tools. ² 

Then ¹  he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, ²  and placed it ³  in a tomb cut out of the rock, ⁴  where no one had yet been buried. ⁵ 

So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity ¹  is like gold or silver or stone, an image ²  made by human ³  skill ⁴  and imagination. ⁵ 

revealing ¹  that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, ²  written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets ³  but on tablets of human hearts.

“This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put ¹  my laws on their hearts and I will inscribe them on their minds,” ² 

So Moses ¹  cut out two tablets of stone like the first; ²  early in the morning he went up ³  to Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him, and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.

A blacksmith works with his tool ¹  and forges metal over the coals. He forms it ²  with hammers; he makes it with his strong arm. He gets hungry and loses his energy; ³  he drinks no water and gets tired.

They say to a wooden idol, ¹  ‘You are my father.’ They say to a stone image, ‘You gave birth to me.’ ²  Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. ³  Yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’

“For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put ¹  my laws in their minds ²  and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people. ³ 

just as Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded the Israelites. As described in the law scroll of Moses, it was made with uncut stones untouched by an iron tool. ¹  They offered burnt sacrifices on it and sacrificed tokens of peace. ² 

Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops ¹  and exact a grain tax from them, you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone, nor will you drink the wine from the fine ²  vineyards you planted. ³