Jerusalem

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine—since he was priest of God Most High—

Now Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai and devoted it to destruction—doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king—and that the people of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were living near them.

Therefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon, saying,

So the five kings of the Amorites—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon—joined forces and advanced with all their armies. They camped before Gibeon and made war against it.

So they brought the five kings out of the cave—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon.

the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one;

From there the border went up the Valley of Ben-hinnom along the southern slope of the Jebusites (that is, Jerusalem) and ascended to the top of the hill that faces the Valley of Hinnom on the west, at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim.

But the descendants of Judah could not drive out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. So to this day the Jebusites live there among the descendants of Judah.

Zelah, Haeleph, Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), Gibeah, and Kiriath-jearim—fourteen cities, along with their villages. This was the inheritance of the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.

Then Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have gathered the scraps under my table. As I have done to them, so God has repaid me.” And they brought him to Jerusalem, where he died.

Then the men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.

The Benjamites, however, failed to drive out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. So to this day the Jebusites live there among the Benjamites.

But the man was unwilling to spend the night. He got up and departed, and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine.

When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, “Please, let us stop at this Jebusite city and spend the night here.”

David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put Goliathʼs weapons in his own tent.

In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

Now the king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the land. The Jebusites said to David: “You will never get in here. Even the blind and lame can repel you.” For they thought, “David cannot get in here.”

Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the City of David).

After he had arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.

These are the names of the children born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

And David took the gold shields that belonged to the officers of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem.

So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the kingʼs table, and he was lame in both feet.

When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they too fled before Abishai, and they entered the city. So Joab returned from fighting against the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.

In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.

“Stay here one more day,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.

David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes, and he made them work at the brick kilns. He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.

So Joab got up, went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.

Now Absalom lived in Jerusalem two years without seeing the face of the king.

For your servant made a vow while dwelling in Geshur of Aram, saying: ‘If indeed the LORD brings me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the LORD in Hebron.’”

Two hundred men from Jerusalem accompanied Absalom. They had been invited as guests and they went along innocently, for they knew nothing about the matter.

And David said to all the servants with him in Jerusalem, “Arise and let us flee, or we will not escape from Absalom! We must leave quickly, or he will soon overtake us, heap disaster on us, and put the city to the sword.”

So Zadok and Abiathar returned the ark of God to Jerusalem and stayed there.

So Davidʼs friend Hushai arrived in Jerusalem just as Absalom was entering the city.

“Where is your masterʼs grandson?” asked the king. And Ziba answered, “Indeed, he is staying in Jerusalem, for he has said, ‘Today, the house of Israel will restore to me the kingdom of my grandfather.’”

Then Absalom and all the men of Israel came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him.

When Absalomʼs servants came to the woman at the house, they asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” “They have crossed over the brook,” she replied. The men searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.

and said, “My lord, do not hold me guilty, and do not remember your servantʼs wrongdoing on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king not take it to heart.

And he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, who asked him, “Mephibosheth, why did you not go with me?”

The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me, and I will provide for you at my side in Jerusalem.”

But Barzillai replied, “How many years of my life remain, that I should go up to Jerusalem with the king?

So all the men of Israel deserted David to follow Sheba son of Bichri. But the men of Judah stayed by their king all the way from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to take care of the palace, and he placed them in a house under guard. He provided for them, but he no longer slept with them. They were confined until the day of their death, living as widows.

So Joabʼs men, along with the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and all the mighty men, marched out of Jerusalem in pursuit of Sheba son of Bichri.

Then the woman went to all the people with her wise counsel, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the ramʼs horn and his men dispersed from the city, each to his own home. And Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

At the end of nine months and twenty days, having gone through the whole land, they returned to Jerusalem.

But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

The length of Davidʼs reign over Israel was forty years—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

Then the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem and live there, but do not go anywhere else.

“The sentence is fair,” Shimei replied. “Your servant will do as my lord the king has spoken.” And Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time.

When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned,

Later, Solomon formed an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying his daughter. Solomon brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his palace and the house of the LORD, as well as the wall around Jerusalem.

Then Solomon awoke, and indeed it had been a dream. So he returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he held a feast for all his servants.

At that time Solomon assembled before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel—all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites—to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David.

This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon imposed to build the house of the LORD, his own palace, the supporting terraces, and the wall of Jerusalem, as well as Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

as well as all the store cities that Solomon had for his chariots and horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion.

And she arrived in Jerusalem with a very large caravan—with camels bearing spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones. So she came to Solomon and spoke to him all that was on her mind.

Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.

The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills.

At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.

Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

During that time, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met Jeroboam on the road as he was going out of Jerusalem. Now Ahijah had wrapped himself in a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the open field.

But one tribe will remain for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

I will give one tribe to his son, so that My servant David will always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put My Name.

Thus the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.

Then King Rehoboam sent out Adoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste and escaped to Jerusalem.

And when Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—180,000 chosen warriors—to fight against the house of Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon.

If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, their hearts will return to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah; then they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”

After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, “Going up to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”

Meanwhile, Rehoboam son of Solomon reigned in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to put His Name. His motherʼs name was Naamah the Ammonite.

In the fifth year of Rehoboamʼs reign, Shishak king of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem.

and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His motherʼs name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

Nevertheless, for the sake of David, the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and to make Jerusalem strong.

and he reigned in Jerusalem forty-one years. His grandmotherʼs name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His motherʼs name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.

Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years.

Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His motherʼs name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri king of Israel.

Then his servants carried him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his fathers in his tomb in the City of David.

In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His motherʼs name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba.

At that time Hazael king of Aram marched up and fought against Gath and captured it. Then he decided to attack Jerusalem.

So King Joash of Judah took all the sacred objects dedicated by his fathers—Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah—along with his own consecrated items and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and he sent them to Hazael king of Aram. So Hazael withdrew from Jerusalem.

He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His motherʼs name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem.

There at Beth-shemesh, Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Ahaziah. Then Jehoash went to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate—a section of four hundred cubits.

And conspirators plotted against Amaziah in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But men were sent after him to Lachish, and they killed him there.

They carried him back on horses and buried him in Jerusalem with his fathers in the City of David.

He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His motherʼs name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem.

He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. His motherʼs name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok.

Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. And unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God.

Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to wage war against Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him.

He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His motherʼs name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.

Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh, along with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They advanced up to Jerusalem and stationed themselves by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Laundererʼs Field.

But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem: ‘You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?

Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

“Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: ‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you.

For a remnant will go forth from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His motherʼs name was Hephzibah.

Manasseh also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My Name.”

Manasseh even took the carved Asherah pole he had made and set it up in the temple, of which the LORD had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will establish My Name forever.

this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah that the news will reverberate in the ears of all who hear it.

I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down.

Moreover, Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end, in addition to the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, doing evil in the sight of the LORD.

Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years. His motherʼs name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah.

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. His motherʼs name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah; she was from Bozkath.

So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went and spoke to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the Second District.

Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

And he went up to the house of the LORD with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets—all the people small and great—and in their hearing he read all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD.

Then the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests second in rank, and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the LORD all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the host of heaven. And he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.

Josiah also did away with the idolatrous priests ordained by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem—those who had burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.

He brought the Asherah pole from the house of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem, and there he burned it, ground it to powder, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.

Although the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.

The king also desecrated the high places east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

On the altars he slaughtered all the priests of the high places, and he burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

But in the eighteenth year of Josiahʼs reign, this Passover was observed to the LORD in Jerusalem.

Furthermore, Josiah removed the mediums and spiritists, the household gods and idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem. He did this to carry out the words of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD.

For the LORD had said, “I will remove Judah from My sight, just as I removed Israel. I will reject this city Jerusalem, which I chose, and the temple of which I said, ‘My Name shall be there.’”

From Megiddo his servants carried his body in a chariot, brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own tomb. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in place of his father.

Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His motherʼs name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.

And Pharaoh Neco imprisoned Jehoahaz at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he could not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His motherʼs name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah.

and also for the innocent blood he had shed. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was unwilling to forgive.

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His motherʼs name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem.

At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.

He carried into exile all Jerusalem—all the commanders and mighty men of valor, all the craftsmen and metalsmiths—ten thousand captives in all. Only the poorest people of the land remained.

Nebuchadnezzar carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, as well as the kingʼs mother, his wives, his officials, and the leading men of the land. He took them into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His motherʼs name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.

For because of the anger of the LORD, all this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until He finally banished them from His presence. And Zedekiah also rebelled against the king of Babylon.

So in the ninth year of Zedekiahʼs reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.

On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzarʼs reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.

He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.

And the whole army of the Chaldeans under the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.

These six sons were born to David in Hebron, where he reigned seven years and six months. And David reigned in Jerusalem thirty-three years,

and these sons were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon. These four were born to him by Bathsheba daughter of Ammiel.

Johanan was the father of Azariah, who served as priest in the temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem,

Jehozadak went into captivity when the LORD sent Judah and Jerusalem into exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

They ministered with song before the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, until Solomon built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem. And they performed their duties according to the regulations given them.

All these were heads of families, the chiefs according to their genealogies, and they lived in Jerusalem.

and Mikloth, who was the father of Shimeah. They too lived alongside their relatives in Jerusalem.

Some of the descendants of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh who lived in Jerusalem:

All these were heads of Levite families, chiefs according to their genealogies, and they lived in Jerusalem.

Mikloth was the father of Shimeam. They too lived alongside their relatives in Jerusalem.

Then David and all the Israelites marched to Jerusalem (that is, Jebus), where the Jebusites inhabited the land.

The people of Jebus said to David, “You will never get in here.” Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion (that is, the City of David).

And David took more wives in Jerusalem and became the father of more sons and daughters.

These are the names of the children born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,

And David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD to the place he had prepared for it.

And David took the gold shields that belonged to the officers of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem.

When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they too fled before Joabʼs brother Abishai, and they entered the city. So Joab went back to Jerusalem.

In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, Joab led out the army and ravaged the land of the Ammonites. He came to Rabbah and besieged it, but David remained in Jerusalem. And Joab attacked Rabbah and demolished it.

David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. And he did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.

Nevertheless, the kingʼs word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and traveled throughout Israel, and then he returned to Jerusalem.

Then God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented from the calamity, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

When David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.

For David had said, “The LORD, the God of Israel, has given rest to His people and has come to dwell in Jerusalem forever.

Now David summoned all the leaders of Israel to Jerusalem: the leaders of the tribes, the leaders of the divisions in the kingʼs service, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the officials in charge of all the property and cattle of the king and his sons, along with the court officials and mighty men—every mighty man of valor.

The length of Davidʼs reign over Israel was forty years—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

Now David had brought the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim to the place he had prepared for it, because he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.

So Solomon went to Jerusalem from the high place in Gibeon, from before the Tent of Meeting, and he reigned over Israel.

Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.

The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills.

Send me, therefore, a craftsman skilled in engraving to work with gold and silver, with bronze and iron, and with purple, crimson, and blue yarn. He will work with my craftsmen in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided.

We will cut logs from Lebanon, as many as you need, and we will float them to you as rafts by sea down to Joppa. Then you can take them up to Jerusalem.”

Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

At that time Solomon assembled in Jerusalem the elders of Israel—all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites—to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David.

But now I have chosen Jerusalem for My Name to be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

as well as Baalath, all the store cities that belonged to Solomon, and all the cities for his chariots and horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion.

Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon, she came to test him with difficult questions. She arrived in Jerusalem with a very large caravan—with camels bearing spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones. So she came to Solomon and spoke with him about all that was on her mind.

Solomon had 4,000 stalls for horses and chariots, and 12,000 horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.

The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills.

Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.

Then King Rehoboam sent out Hadoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste and escaped to Jerusalem.

When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized the house of Judah and Benjamin—180,000 chosen warriors—to fight against Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.

Rehoboam continued to live in Jerusalem, and he built up cities for defense in Judah.

For the Levites left their pasturelands and their possessions and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the LORD.

Those from every tribe of Israel who had set their hearts to seek the LORD their God followed the Levites to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers.

In the fifth year of Rehoboamʼs reign, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt came up and attacked Jerusalem

He captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You have forsaken Me; therefore, I have forsaken you into the hand of Shishak.’”

When the LORD saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; I will not destroy them, but will soon grant them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.

So King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and seized the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made.

Thus King Rehoboam established himself in Jerusalem and reigned. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to put His Name. His motherʼs name was Naamah the Ammonite.

and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His motherʼs name was Micaiah daughter of Uriel; she was from Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

They also attacked the tents of the herdsmen and carried off many sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

So they gathered together in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asaʼs reign.

and kept vast supplies in the cities of Judah. He also had warriors in Jerusalem who were mighty men of valor.

When Jehoshaphat king of Judah had returned safely to his home in Jerusalem,

Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and once again he went out among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the LORD, the God of their fathers.

Moreover, Jehoshaphat appointed in Jerusalem some of the Levites, priests, and heads of the Israelite families to judge on behalf of the LORD and to settle disputes. And they lived in Jerusalem.

Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the LORD in front of the new courtyard

And he said, “Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army, for the battle does not belong to you, but to God.

You need not fight this battle. Take up your positions, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out and face them tomorrow, for the LORD is with you.’”

Then Jehoshaphat bowed facedown, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down before the LORD to worship Him.

Early in the morning they got up and left for the Wilderness of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood up and said, “Hear me, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be upheld; believe in His prophets, and you will succeed.”

Then all the men of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat at their head, returned joyfully to Jerusalem, for the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies.

So they entered Jerusalem and went into the house of the LORD with harps, lyres, and trumpets.

So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His motherʼs name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.

Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years.

Jehoram had also built high places on the hills of Judah; he had caused the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves and had led Judah astray.

but you have walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and have caused Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab prostituted itself. You have also killed your brothers, your fatherʼs family, who were better than you.

Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He died, to no oneʼs regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

Then the people of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, the youngest son of Jehoram, king in his place, since the raiders who had come into the camp with the Arabs had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram became king of Judah.

Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His motherʼs name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri.

So they went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the heads of the families of Israel. And when they came to Jerusalem,

Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. His motherʼs name was Zibiah; she was from Beersheba.

So the king called Jehoiada the high priest and said, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the LORD and by the assembly of Israel for the Tent of the Testimony?”

And a proclamation was issued in Judah and Jerusalem that they were to bring to the LORD the tax imposed by Moses the servant of God on Israel in the wilderness.

They abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and idols. So wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.

In the spring, the army of Aram went to war against Joash. They entered Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the leaders of the people, and they sent all the plunder to their king in Damascus.

Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His motherʼs name was Jehoaddan; she was from Jerusalem.

There at Beth-shemesh, Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz. Then Jehoash brought him to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate—a section of four hundred cubits.

From the time that Amaziah turned from following the LORD, a conspiracy was formed against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But men were sent after him to Lachish, and they killed him there.

Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His motherʼs name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem.

Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and the angle in the wall, and he fortified them.

And in Jerusalem he made skillfully designed devices to shoot arrows and catapult large stones from the towers and corners. So his fame spread far and wide, for he was helped tremendously until he became powerful.

Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. His motherʼs name was Jerushah daughter of Zadok.

He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years.

Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. And unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD.

And now you intend to reduce to slavery the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem. But are you not also guilty before the LORD your God?

Then Ahaz gathered up the articles of the house of God, cut them into pieces, shut the doors of the house of the LORD, and set up altars of his own on every street corner in Jerusalem.

And Ahaz rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of Jerusalem, but he was not placed in the tombs of the kings of Israel. And his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.

Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His motherʼs name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

Therefore, the wrath of the LORD has fallen upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, horror, and scorn, as you can see with your own eyes.

Then Hezekiah sent word throughout all Israel and Judah, and he also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh inviting them to come to the house of the LORD in Jerusalem to keep the Passover of the LORD, the God of Israel.

For the king and his officials and the whole assembly in Jerusalem had decided to keep the Passover in the second month,

since they had been unable to keep it at the regular time, because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not been gathered in Jerusalem.

So they established a decree to circulate a proclamation throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come to keep the Passover of the LORD, the God of Israel, in Jerusalem. For they had not observed it in great numbers as prescribed.

Nevertheless, some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.

In the second month, a very great assembly gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

They proceeded to remove the altars in Jerusalem and to take away the incense altars and throw them into the Kidron Valley.

The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy, and the Levites and priests praised the LORD day after day, accompanied by loud instruments of praise to the LORD.

So there was great rejoicing in Jerusalem, for nothing like this had happened there since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel.

Moreover, he commanded the people living in Jerusalem to make a contribution for the priests and Levites so that they could devote themselves to the Law of the LORD.

When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come to make war against Jerusalem,

Later, as Sennacherib king of Assyria and all his forces besieged Lachish, he sent his servants to Jerusalem with a message for King Hezekiah of Judah and all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem:

“This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: What is the basis of your confidence, that you remain in Jerusalem under siege?

Did not Hezekiah himself remove His high places and His altars and say to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before one altar, and on it you shall burn sacrifices’?

Then the Assyrians called out loudly in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them in order to capture the city.

They spoke against the God of Jerusalem as they had spoken against the gods of the peoples of the earth—the work of human hands.

So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hands of King Sennacherib of Assyria and all the others, and He gave them rest on every side.

Many brought offerings to Jerusalem for the LORD and valuable gifts for Hezekiah king of Judah, and from then on he was exalted in the eyes of all nations.

But because his heart was proud, Hezekiah did not repay the favor shown to him. Therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

Then Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart—he and the people of Jerusalem—so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.

And Hezekiah rested with his fathers and was buried in the upper tombs of Davidʼs descendants. All Judah and the people of Jerusalem paid him honor at his death. And his son Manasseh reigned in his place.

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years.

Manasseh also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever.”

Manasseh even took the carved image he had made and set it up in the house of God, of which God had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will establish My Name forever.

So Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.

And when he prayed to Him, the LORD received his plea and heard his petition. So He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.

He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, along with all the altars he had built on the temple mount and in Jerusalem, and he dumped them outside the city.

Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years.

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years.

In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, Josiah began to seek the God of his father David, and in the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved idols, and the cast images.

Then he burned the bones of the priests on their altars. So he cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

He tore down the altars and Asherah poles, crushed the idols to powder, and cut to pieces all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

So they went to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites who guarded the doors had collected from the people of Manasseh and Ephraim, from all the remnant of Israel, from all Judah, and Benjamin, and from the people of Jerusalem.

So Hilkiah and those the king had designated went and spoke to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, the keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the Second District.

Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

And he went up to the house of the LORD with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the Levites—all the people great and small—and in their hearing he read all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD.

Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin take a stand in agreement to it. So all the people of Jerusalem carried out the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.

Then Josiah kept the Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem, and the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month.

No such Passover had been observed in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel ever observed a Passover like the one that Josiah observed with the priests, the Levites, all Judah, the Israelites who were present, and the people of Jerusalem.

So his servants took him out of his chariot, put him in his second chariot, and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. And Josiah was buried in the tomb of his fathers, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him.

Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.

Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months.

And the king of Egypt dethroned him in Jerusalem and imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

Then Neco king of Egypt made Eliakim brother of Jehoahaz king over Judah and Jerusalem, and he changed Eliakimʼs name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Eliakimʼs brother Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt.

Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God.

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD.

In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned Jehoiachin and brought him to Babylon, along with the articles of value from the house of the LORD. And he made Jehoiachinʼs relative Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years.

Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the LORD, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.

Then the Chaldeans set fire to the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned down all the palaces and destroyed every article of value.

“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and may he go up.’”

“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah.

Whoever among you belongs to His people, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem.

And let every survivor, wherever he lives, be assisted by the men of that region with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, along with a freewill offering for the house of God in Jerusalem.’”

So the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites—everyone whose spirit God had stirred—prepared to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.

King Cyrus also brought out the articles belonging to the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the temple of his gods.

In all, there were 5,400 gold and silver articles. Sheshbazzar brought all these along when the exiles went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles carried away to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar its king. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town,

When they arrived at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings to rebuild the house of God on its original site.

By the seventh month, the Israelites had settled in their towns, and the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.

In the second month of the second year after they had arrived at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak, and the rest of their associates including the priests, the Levites, and all who had returned to Jerusalem from the captivity, began the work. They appointed Levites twenty years of age or older to supervise the construction of the house of the LORD.

At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes, an accusation was lodged against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote the letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows:

Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came from you to us have returned to Jerusalem and are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are restoring its walls, and repairing its foundations.

And mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem and exercised authority over the whole region west of the Euphrates; and tribute, duty, and toll were paid to them.

When the text of the letter from King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and forcibly stopped them.

Thus the construction of the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Later, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them.

Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak rose up and began to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them.

He also removed from the temple of Babylon the gold and silver articles belonging to the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken and carried there from the temple in Jerusalem. King Cyrus gave these articles to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he appointed governor

and instructed, ‘Take these articles, put them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its original site.’

So this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundation of the house of God in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been under construction, but it has not yet been completed.”

Now, therefore, if it pleases the king, let a search be made of the royal archives in Babylon to see if King Cyrus did indeed issue a decree to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us his decision in this matter.

In the first year of King Cyrus, he issued a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: Let the house be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices, and let its foundations be firmly laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide,

Furthermore, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon, must also be returned to the temple in Jerusalem and deposited in the house of God.

Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, as well as wheat, salt, wine, and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given to them daily without fail.

May God, who has caused His Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to alter this decree or to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued the decree. Let it be carried out with diligence.

They also appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the Book of Moses.

So in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes, he went up to Jerusalem with some of the Israelites, including priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and temple servants.

Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king.

He had begun the journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, for the gracious hand of his God was upon him.

I hereby decree that any volunteers among the Israelites in my kingdom, including the priests and Levites, may go up with you to Jerusalem.

You are sent by the king and his seven counselors to evaluate Judah and Jerusalem according to the Law of your God, which is in your hand.

Moreover, you are to take with you the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,

together with all the silver and gold you may find in all the province of Babylon, as well as the freewill offerings of the people and priests to the house of their God in Jerusalem.

With this money, therefore, you are to buy as many bulls, rams, and lambs as needed, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings, and offer them on the altar at the house of your God in Jerusalem.

You must deliver to the God of Jerusalem all the articles given to you for the service of the house of your God.

Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put into the heart of the king to so honor the house of the LORD in Jerusalem,

Guard them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the house of the LORD in Jerusalem before the leading priests, Levites, and heads of the Israelite families.”

So the priests and Levites took charge of the silver and gold and sacred articles that had been weighed out to be taken to the house of our God in Jerusalem.

On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us to protect us from the hands of the enemies and bandits along the way.

So we arrived at Jerusalem and rested there for three days.

Though we are slaves, our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but He has extended to us grace in the sight of the kings of Persia, giving us new life to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and giving us a wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem.

And a proclamation was issued throughout Judah and Jerusalem that all the exiles should gather at Jerusalem.

So within the three days, all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled in Jerusalem, and on the twentieth day of the ninth month, all the people sat in the square at the house of God, trembling regarding this matter and because of the heavy rain.

Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived with men from Judah. So I questioned them about the remnant of the Jews who had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.

And they told me, “The remnant who survived the exile are there in the province, in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

After I had arrived in Jerusalem and had been there three days,

I set out at night with a few men. I did not tell anyone what my God had laid on my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal with me was the one on which I was riding.

So I went out at night through the Valley Gate toward the Well of the Serpent and the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and the gates that had been destroyed by fire.

Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned down. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.”

So I answered them and said, “The God of heaven is the One who will grant us success. We, His servants, will start rebuilding, but you have no portion, right, or claim in Jerusalem.”

Next to them, Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. And next to him, Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs. They fortified Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.

Next to them, Rephaiah son of Hur, ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem, made repairs;

And next to them, Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of the other half-district of Jerusalem, made repairs, with the help of his daughters.

When Sanballat and Tobiah, together with the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites, heard that the repair to the walls of Jerusalem was progressing and that the gaps were being closed, they were furious,

and all of them conspired to come and fight against Jerusalem and create a hindrance.

At that time I also said to the people, “Let every man and his servant spend the night inside Jerusalem, so that they can stand guard by night and work by day.”

and you have even appointed prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim on your behalf: ‘There is a king in Judah.’ Soon these rumors will reach the ears of the king. So come, let us confer together.”

Then I put my brother Hanani in charge of Jerusalem, along with Hananiah the commander of the fortress, because he was a faithful man who feared God more than most.

And I told them, “Do not open the gates of Jerusalem until the sun is hot. While the guards are on duty, keep the doors shut and securely fastened. And appoint the residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their posts and some at their own homes.”

These are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles carried away to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar its king. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town,

and that they should proclaim this message and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hill country and bring back branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.”

Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in the holy city of Jerusalem, while the remaining nine were to dwell in their own towns.

And the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.

These are the heads of the provinces who settled in Jerusalem. (In the villages of Judah, however, each lived on his own property in their towns—the Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants, and descendants of Solomonʼs servants—

while some of the descendants of Judah and Benjamin settled in Jerusalem.) From the descendants of Judah: Athaiah son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, a descendant of Perez;

The descendants of Perez who settled in Jerusalem totaled 468 men of valor.

Now the overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica. He was one of Asaphʼs descendants, who were the singers in charge of the service of the house of God.

At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from all their homes and brought to Jerusalem to celebrate the joyous dedication with thanksgiving and singing, accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.

The singers were also assembled from the region around Jerusalem, from the villages of the Netophathites,

from Beth-gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for they had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem.

On that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar.

While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to Artaxerxes king of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign. Some time later I obtained leave from the king

to return to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah by providing him a room in the courts of the house of God.

In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, and figs. All kinds of goods were being brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them against selling food on that day.

Additionally, men of Tyre who lived there were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah in Jerusalem.

When the evening shadows began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem, just before the Sabbath, I ordered that the gates be shut and not opened until after the Sabbath. I posted some of my servants at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.

Once or twice, the merchants and those who sell all kinds of goods camped outside Jerusalem,

He had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon among those taken captive with Jeconiah king of Judah.

“I have installed My King on Zion, upon My holy mountain.”

Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion; proclaim His deeds among the nations.

that I may declare all Your praises— that within the gates of Daughter Zion I may rejoice in Your salvation.

Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come from Zion! When the LORD restores His captive people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad!

May He send you help from the sanctuary and sustain you from Zion.

Beautiful in loftiness, the joy of all the earth, like the peaks of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the great King.

Mount Zion is glad, the daughters of Judah rejoice, on account of Your judgments.

March around Zion, encircle her, count her towers,

From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.

In Your good pleasure, cause Zion to prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.

Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come from Zion! When God restores His captive people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad!

Praise awaits You, O God, in Zion; to You our vows will be fulfilled.

Because of Your temple at Jerusalem kings will bring You gifts.

For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it.

Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance—

His tent is in Salem, His dwelling place in Zion.

But He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved.

The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.

They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead.

They go from strength to strength, until each appears before God in Zion.

The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

And it will be said of Zion: “This one and that one were born in her, and the Most High Himself will establish her.”

Zion hears and rejoices, and the towns of Judah exult because of Your judgments, O LORD.

Great is the LORD in Zion; He is exalted above all the peoples.

You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show her favor— the appointed time has come.

For the LORD will rebuild Zion; He has appeared in His glory.

that they may proclaim the name of the LORD in Zion and praise Him in Jerusalem,

The LORD extends Your mighty scepter from Zion: “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”

in the courts of the LORDʼs house, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Hallelujah!

Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is built up as a city united together,

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you prosper.

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion. It cannot be moved; it abides forever.

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people, both now and forevermore.

When the LORD restored the captives of Zion, we were like dreamers.

May the LORD bless you from Zion, that you may see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life,

May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame.

For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His home:

It is like the dew of Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion. For there the LORD has bestowed the blessing of life forevermore.

May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.

Blessed be the LORD from Zion— He who dwells in Jerusalem. Hallelujah!

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.”

If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function.

May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!

Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!”

The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Hallelujah!

The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the exiles of Israel.

Exalt the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion!

Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.

These are the words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem:

I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

I said to myself, “Behold, I have grown and increased in wisdom beyond all those before me who were over Jerusalem, and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”

I acquired menservants and maidservants, and servants were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me,

So I became great and surpassed all in Jerusalem who had preceded me; and my wisdom remained with me.

I am dark, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

He has made its posts of silver, its base of gold, its seat of purple fabric. Its interior is inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.

Come out, O daughters of Zion, and gaze at King Solomon, wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding— the day of his heartʼs rejoicing.

O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.

His mouth is most sweet; he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

You are as beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, as majestic as troops with banners.

O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

This is the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

And the Daughter of Zion is abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a shack in a cucumber field, like a city besieged.

Zion will be redeemed with justice, her repentant ones with righteousness.

This is the message that was revealed to Isaiah son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

For behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: the whole supply of food and water,

For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen because they spoke and acted against the LORD, defying His glorious presence.

The LORD also says: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty— walking with heads held high and wanton eyes, prancing and skipping as they go, jingling the bracelets on their ankles—

the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will make their foreheads bare.”

Whoever remains in Zion and whoever is left in Jerusalem will be called holy— all in Jerusalem who are recorded among the living—

when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.

Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a canopy,

“And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard.

Now in the days that Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, Rezin king of Aram marched up to wage war against Jerusalem. He was accompanied by Pekah son of Remaliah the king of Israel, but he could not overpower the city.

And He will be a sanctuary— but to both houses of Israel a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, to the dwellers of Jerusalem a trap and a snare.

Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me as signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD of Hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

As my hand seized the idolatrous kingdoms whose images surpassed those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

and as I have done to Samaria and its idols, will I not also do to Jerusalem and her idols?”

So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes.

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “O My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, who strikes you with a rod and lifts his staff against you as the Egyptians did.

Yet today they will halt at Nob, shaking a fist at the mount of Daughter Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.

Cry out and sing, O citizen of Zion, for great among you is the Holy One of Israel.”

What answer will be given to the envoys of that nation? “The LORD has founded Zion, where His afflicted people will find refuge.”

Send the tribute lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sela in the desert to the mount of Daughter Zion.

At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD of Hosts— from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people widely feared, from a powerful nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers— to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD of Hosts.

You counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore them down to strengthen the wall.

I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority in his hand, and he will be a father to the dwellers of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

The moon will be confounded and the sun will be ashamed; for the LORD of Hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His elders with great glory.

And in that day a great ramʼs horn will sound, and those who were perishing in Assyria will come forth with those who were exiles in Egypt. And they will worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

Therefore hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.

So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.

Woe to you, O Ariel, the city of Ariel where David camped! Year upon year let your festivals recur.

And I will constrain Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation; she will be like an altar hearth before Me.

All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel— even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her— will be like a dream, like a vision in the night,

as when a hungry man dreams he is eating, then awakens still hungry; as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking, then awakens faint and parched. So will it be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.

O people in Zion who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious when you cry for help; when He hears, He will answer you.

For this is what the LORD has said to me: “Like a lion roaring or a young lion over its prey— and though a band of shepherds is called out against it, it is not terrified by their shouting or subdued by their clamor— so the LORD of Hosts will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and its heights.

Like birds hovering overhead, so the LORD of Hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will shield it and deliver it; He will pass over it and preserve it.”

Their rock will pass away for fear, and their princes will panic at the sight of the battle standard,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling grips the ungodly: “Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?”

Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander; its tent pegs will not be pulled up, nor will any of its cords be broken.

For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh, with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stopped by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Laundererʼs Field.

But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar’?

Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

“Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.

this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: ‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you.

For a remnant will go forth from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.

“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”

Go up on a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Raise your voice loudly, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”

I was the first to tell Zion: ‘Look, here they are!’ And I gave to Jerusalem a herald of good news.

who confirms the message of His servant and fulfills the counsel of His messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, and I will restore their ruins,’

who says of Cyrus, ‘My shepherd will fulfill all that I desire,’ who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and of the temple, ‘Let its foundation be laid.’”

I am bringing My righteousness near; it is not far away, and My salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion and adorn Israel with My splendor.

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me!”

For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.

So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

I have put My words in your mouth, and covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”

Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of His fury; you who have drained the goblet to the dregs— the cup that makes men stagger.

Awake, awake, clothe yourself with strength, O Zion! Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, holy city! For the uncircumcised and unclean will no longer enter you.

Shake off your dust! Rise up and sit on your throne, O Jerusalem. Remove the chains from your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices, together they shout for joy. For every eye will see when the LORD returns to Zion.

Break forth in joy, sing together, O ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted His people; He has redeemed Jerusalem.

“The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.

The sons of your oppressors will come and bow down to you; all who reviled you will fall facedown at your feet and call you the City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

to console the mourners in Zion— to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

For Zionʼs sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalemʼs sake I will not keep still, until her righteousness shines like a bright light, her salvation like a blazing torch.

No longer will you be called Forsaken, nor your land named Desolate; but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be His bride.

On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD shall take no rest for yourselves,

nor give Him any rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.

Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the ends of the earth, “Say to Daughter Zion: See, your Savior comes! Look, His reward is with Him, and His recompense goes before Him.”

Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wasteland and Jerusalem a desolation.

But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem and take delight in My people. The sounds of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her.

Who has heard of such as this? Who has seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.

Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her. Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her,

As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”

And they will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the LORD on horses and chariots and wagons, on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.”

and through the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

For I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem. They will attack all her surrounding walls and all the other cities of Judah.

“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.

“Return, O faithless children,” declares the LORD, “for I am your master, and I will take you—one from a city and two from a family—and bring you to Zion.

At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be gathered in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.

For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground, and do not sow among the thorns.

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, O men of Judah and people of Jerusalem. Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish it, because of your evil deeds.”

Announce in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: “Blow the ramʼs horn throughout the land. Cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves and let us flee to the fortified cities.’

Raise a signal flag toward Zion. Seek refuge! Do not delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, and terrible destruction.

Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, how completely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ while a sword is at our throats.”

At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A searing wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward the daughter of My people, but not to winnow or to sift;

Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?

Warn the nations now! Proclaim to Jerusalem: “A besieging army comes from a distant land; they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.

For I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child— the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands to say, “Woe is me, for my soul faints before the murderers!”

“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem. Look now and take note; search her squares. If you can find a single person, anyone who acts justly, anyone who seeks the truth, then I will forgive the city.

“Run for cover, O sons of Benjamin; flee from Jerusalem! Sound the ramʼs horn in Tekoa; send up a signal over Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms from the north, even great destruction.

Though she is beautiful and delicate, I will destroy the Daughter of Zion.

For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Cut down the trees and raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This city must be punished; there is nothing but oppression in her midst.

Be forewarned, O Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you; I will make you a desolation, a land without inhabitant.”

They grasp the bow and spear; they are cruel and merciless. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses, lined up like men in formation against you, O Daughter of Zion.”

Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bride and bridegroom, for the land will become a wasteland.”

“At that time,” declares the LORD, “the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves.

Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.

Listen to the cry of the daughter of my people from a land far away: “Is the LORD no longer in Zion? Is her King no longer there?” “Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images, with their worthless foreign idols?”

“And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

For the sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How devastated we are! How great is our shame! For we have abandoned the land because our dwellings have been torn down.’”

“Listen to the words of this covenant and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

Then the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear the words of this covenant and carry them out.

And the LORD told me, “There is a conspiracy among the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to which they have been burning incense, but these gods certainly will not save them in their time of disaster.

Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, O Judah; the altars of shame you have set up—the altars to burn incense to Baal—are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’

“This is what the LORD says: In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

then you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land—the kings who sit on Davidʼs throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the people of Jerusalem.

Your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution on the hills and in the fields— I have seen your detestable acts. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will you remain unclean?”

“Judah mourns and her gates languish. Her people wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.

And the people to whom they prophesy will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them or their wives, their sons or their daughters. I will pour out their own evil upon them.

Have You rejected Judah completely? Do You despise Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We hoped for peace, but no good has come, and for the time of healing, but there was only terror.

I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.

Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Who will mourn for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?

This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the gate of the people, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; and stand at all the other gates of Jerusalem.

Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, all people of Judah and Jerusalem who enter through these gates.

This is what the LORD says: Take heed for yourselves; do not carry a load or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day.

then kings and princes will enter through the gates of this city. They will sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses with their officials, along with the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.

And people will come from the cities of Judah and the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, and from the foothills, the hill country, and the Negev, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and thank offerings to the house of the LORD.

But if you do not listen to Me to keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire in its gates to consume the citadels of Jerusalem.’”

Now therefore, tell the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I am planning a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways, and correct your ways and deeds.’

saying, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on this place that the ears of all who hear of it will ring,

And in this place I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, by the hands of those who seek their lives, and I will give their carcasses as food to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.

The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like that place, Topheth—all the houses on whose rooftops they burned incense to all the host of heaven and poured out drink offerings to other gods.”

He will be buried like a donkey, dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.

And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness. They are all like Sodom to Me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”

Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says concerning the prophets: “I will feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”

After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, as well as the officials of Judah and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD.

But like the bad figs, so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the LORD, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt.

So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the residents of Jerusalem as follows:

to make them a ruin, an object of horror and contempt and cursing, as they are to this day—Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials;

“Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and told all the people of Judah that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.’

Send word to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.

If they are indeed prophets and the word of the LORD is with them, let them now plead with the LORD of Hosts that the articles remaining in the house of the LORD, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, not be taken to Babylon.

which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.

Yes, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about the articles that remain in the house of the LORD, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem:

This is the text of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets, and all the others Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

(This was after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalsmiths had been exiled from Jerusalem.)

This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles who were carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:

So hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “In your own name you have sent out letters to all the people of Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests. You said to Zephaniah:

But I will restore your health and heal your wounds, declares the LORD, because they call you an outcast, Zion, for whom no one cares.”

For there will be a day when watchmen will call out on the hills of Ephraim, ‘Arise, let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God!’”

They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD— the grain, new wine, and oil, and the young of the flocks and herds. Their life will be like a well-watered garden, and never again will they languish.

At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard, which was in the palace of the king of Judah.

because of all the evil the children of Israel and of Judah have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their officials, their priests and prophets, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem.

Fields will be purchased with silver, and deeds will be signed, sealed, and witnessed in the land of Benjamin, in the areas surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah—the cities of the hill country, the foothills, and the Negev—because I will restore them from captivity, declares the LORD.”

This is what the LORD says: In this place you say is a wasteland without man or beast, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted—inhabited by neither man nor beast—there will be heard again

In the cities of the hill country, the foothills, and the Negev, in the land of Benjamin and the cities surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the LORD.

In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely, and this is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, all his army, all the earthly kingdoms under his control, and all the other nations were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities.

In Jerusalem, then, Jeremiah the prophet relayed all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah

as the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the remaining cities of Judah—against Lachish and Azekah. For these were the only fortified cities remaining in Judah.

After King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty, the word came to Jeremiah from the LORD

The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf,

So when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched into the land, we said: ‘Come, let us go into Jerusalem to escape the armies of the Chaldeans and the Arameans.’ So we have remained in Jerusalem.”

“This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Go and tell the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem: ‘Will you not accept discipline and obey My words?’ declares the LORD.

Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will bring to Judah and to all the residents of Jerusalem all the disaster I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them but they have not obeyed, and I have called to them but they have not answered.’”

Now in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a fast before the LORD was proclaimed to all the people of Jerusalem and all who had come there from the cities of Judah.

I will punish him and his descendants and servants for their iniquity. I will bring on them, on the residents of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the calamity about which I warned them but they did not listen.”

Pharaohʼs army had left Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report, they withdrew from Jerusalem.

When the Chaldean army withdrew from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaohʼs army,

Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to claim his portion there among the people.

And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to the city.

The Chaldeans set fire to the palace of the king and to the houses of the people, and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan captain of the guard had released him at Ramah, having found him bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon.

For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as My anger and wrath were poured out on the residents of Jerusalem, so will My wrath be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing and horror, of vilification and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.’

“This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: You have seen all the disaster that I brought against Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah; and behold, they lie today in ruins and desolation

Therefore My wrath and anger poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, so that they have become the desolate ruin they are today.

Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers and of the kings of Judah and their wives, as well as the wickedness that you and your wives committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, just as I punished Jerusalem, by sword and famine and plague,

Instead, we will do everything we vowed to do: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and offer drink offerings to her, just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and good things, and we saw no disaster.

“As for the incense you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem—you, your fathers, your kings, your officials, and the people of the land—did the LORD not remember and bring this to mind?

They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and join themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.

Listen to the fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon, declaring in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance for His temple.