Like a bridegroom it emerges ¹  from its chamber; ²  like a strong man it enjoys ³  running its course. ⁴ 

Death and life are in the power ¹  of the tongue, ²  and those who love its use ³  will eat its fruit.

“It’s worthless! It’s worthless!” ¹  says the buyer, ²  but when he goes on his way, he boasts. ³ 

As I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.” ¹ 

“When they return to it, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.

It has tried my patience; ¹  yet its thick rot is not removed ²  from it. Subject its rot to the fire! ³ 

I asked, “Where are you going?” He replied, “To measure Jerusalem ¹  in order to determine its width and its length.”

¹ “They are to make an ark ²  of acacia wood – its length is to be three feet nine inches, its width two feet three inches, and its height two feet three inches. ³ 

¹ “You are to make a table of acacia wood; its length is to be three feet, its width one foot six inches, and its height two feet three inches.

You are to make two gold rings for it under its border, on its two flanks; you are to make them on its two sides. ¹  The rings ²  will be places ³  for poles to carry it with.

“‘If a man sells a residential house in a walled city, ¹  its right of redemption must extend ²  until one full year from its sale; ³  its right of redemption must extend to a full calendar year. ⁴ 

In the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, ¹  you are to observe it at its appointed time; you must keep ²  it in accordance with all its statutes and all its customs.” ³ 

Within the territory of the tribe of Benjamin they were allotted ¹  Geba and its pasturelands, Alemeth and its pasturelands, and Anathoth and its pasturelands. Their clans were allotted thirteen cities in all.

The Philistines had raided the cities of Judah in the lowlands ¹  and the Negev. They captured and settled in Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco and its surrounding villages, Timnah and its surrounding villages, and Gimzo and its surrounding villages.

Hanun and the residents of Zanoah worked on the Valley Gate. They rebuilt it and positioned its doors, its bolts, and its bars, in addition to working on fifteen hundred feet ¹  of the wall as far as the Dung Gate.

As for the settlements with their fields, some of the people of Judah settled in Kiriath Arba and its neighboring villages, ¹  in Dibon and its villages, in Jekabzeel and its settlements,

Mourn for that nation, all you nations living around it, all of you nations that know of its fame. ¹  Mourn and say, ‘Alas, its powerful influence has been broken! Its glory and power have been done away!’ ² 

A fire has gone out from its branch; it has consumed its shoot and its fruit. ¹  No strong branch was left in it, nor a scepter to rule.’ This is a lament song, and has become a lament song.”

All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs; under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth, in its shade all the great ¹  nations lived.

The cedars in the garden of God could not eclipse it, nor could the fir trees ¹  match its boughs; the plane trees were as nothing compared to its branches; no tree in the garden of God could rival its beauty.