63 Bible Verses about Ruins

If in spite of this you do not listen to me and still resist me, I will resist you with great fury. I will discipline you seven times for your sins. You will eat the bodies of your sons and daughters.read more.
I will destroy your worship sites. I will cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on top of your dead idols. I will view you with disgust. I will make your cities deserted and ruin your sacred places. I will no longer accept the soothing aroma from your sacrifices. I will make your land so deserted that your enemies will be shocked as they settle in it. I will scatter you among the nations. War will follow you. Your country will be in ruins. Your cities will be deserted.

Gather all its treasure into the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its treasure with fire as a whole burnt offering to Jehovah your God. It shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt.

Jehovah will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a nation of fierce countenance who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young. They will eat the offspring of your animals and the crops from your fields until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, no new wine, no olive oil, no calves from your herds, and no lambs or kids from your flocks. They will continue to do this until you are completely desolate.read more.
They will blockade all your cities until the high, fortified walls you trust come down everywhere in your land. They will blockade all the cities everywhere in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you.

I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins. It will be a gathering place of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah desolation, without inhabitant.

I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the field. It will be a place for planting vineyards. I will tumble down her stones into the valley! I will uncover her foundations. All her images will be broken to pieces! All that she has earned will be burned with fire. I will destroy all her idols. She gathered them for the price of a prostitute and for the price of a prostitute they will return.

Here is what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge and break down the wall that protects it. I will let wild animals eat it and trample it down. It will turn into a desert, neither pruned nor cultivated. It will be covered with thorns and briars. I will command the clouds not to send rain. I am Jehovah of Hosts (All Powerful)! Israel is the vineyard, and Judah is the garden I tended with care. I had hoped for honesty and for justice, but dishonesty and cries for mercy were all I found.

Then I said: How long, O Jehovah? And He answered: Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, until the houses are deserted and the land is utterly desolate. Until Jehovah has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. Even if one out of ten people are left it will be destroyed (burned) again. When a strong tree or an oak is cut down, a stump is left. The holy seed is the stump.

A lion has come out of its lair. A destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place and is on his way to destroy your land. Your cities will be ruined. No one will live in them.

But if you do not do what I say, I will take an oath on myself,' declares Jehovah, 'this palace will become a pile of rubble.'

Your dwelling places in the cities will be ruined, and the worship sites will be wrecked. Your altars will be ruined and demolished. Your idols will be smashed and completely destroyed. Your incense burners will be cut down. Everything you have done will be wiped out. Your people will be killed and they will fall among you. Then you will know that I am Jehovah.

A ruin, a ruin, a ruin! Yes, I will make the city a ruin. But this will not happen until the one comes whom I have chosen and who has the legal right to punish the city. To him I will give it.

Hear and testify against the house of Jacob, said the Lord Jehovah, the God of Hosts. The day that I punish Israel because of her sins I will also punish those at the altars of Bethel! The horns of the altar will be cut off, and fall to the ground. I will strike (destroy) the winter house and the summer house. The houses of ivory will perish, and the great houses will come to an end, said Jehovah.

The high places of Isaac will be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste. I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

It was the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He had the Temple of Jehovah, the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned with fire. The army of the Chaldaeans under the command of the captain of the army broke down the walls around Jerusalem.read more.
The rest of the people still in the town, and all those who had given themselves up to the king of Babylon, and all the rest of the workmen were taken away as prisoners by Nebuzaradan, the captain of the army. He let the poorest of the land go on living there, to take care of the vines and the fields. The copper pillars in the Temple of Jehovah, and the wheeled bases, and the great copper water-vessel in the Temple of Jehovah were broken up by the Chaldaeans. They took the copper to Babylon. The pots and the spades and the scissors for the lights and the spoons, and all the copper vessels used in Jehovah's Temple were taken away. The captain of the guard took all of the incense burners and bowls that were made of gold or silver.

So he had the Babylonian king attack them and execute their best young men in their holy temple. He did not spare the best men or the unmarried women, the old people or the sick people. God handed all of them over to him. He brought to Babylon each of the utensils from God's temple, the treasures from Jehovah's Temple, and the treasures of the king and his officials. He burned down the Temple and the city, with all its palaces and its wealth, and broke down the city wall.

The Babylonians burned down the royal palace and the houses of the people and tore down the walls of Jerusalem. Finally Nebuzaradan, the commanding officer, took away as prisoners to Babylon the people who were left in the city, together with those who had deserted to him. He left in the land of Judah some of the poorest people, who owned no property, and he gave them vineyards and fields.

On the tenth day of the fifth month of Nebuchadnezzar's nineteenth year as king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, who was the captain of the guard and an officer of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned down Jehovah's Temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem. Every important building was burned down. The entire Babylonian army that was with the captain of the guard tore down the walls around Jerusalem.read more.
Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, captured the few people left in the city, those who surrendered to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population. Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left some of the poorest people in the land to work in the vineyards and on the farms. The Babylonians broke apart the copper pillars of Jehovah's Temple, the stands, and the copper pool in Jehovah's Temple. They shipped all the copper to Babylon. they took the pots, shovels, snuffers, bowls, dishes, and all the copper utensils used in the Temple service. The captain of the guard also took pans, incense burners, bowls, pots, lamp stands, dishes, and the bowls used for wine offerings. The captain of the guard took all of the trays and bowls that were made of gold or silver.

You have refused to recognize the covenant to your servant and have thrown his crown into the dirt. You have broken through all his walls and have laid his fortified cities in ruins. Everyone who passed by robbed him. He has become the object of his neighbors' scorn.

Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.

Why did you break down the stone fences around this vine? All who pass by are picking its fruit. Wild boars from the forest graze on it. Wild animals devour it. O God, commander of armies, come back! Look from heaven and see! Come to help this vine.read more.
Take care of what your right hand planted, the son you strengthened for yourself. The vine has been cut down and burned. Let them be destroyed by the threatening look on your face.

But now, Jehovah, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are our potter. We are the work of your hands. Do not be too angry, Jehovah. Do not remember our sin forever. Now look, we are all your people. Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a desert. Jerusalem is a wasteland.read more.
Our holy and beautiful Temple where our ancestors praised you has been burned to the ground. All that we valued has been ruined. Despite these things, Jehovah, will you restrain yourself? Will you be silent and make us suffer beyond measure?

Jehovah has become like an enemy fighting against her, sending destruction on Israel. He has sent destruction on all her great houses, turning his strong places into waste. He increases the grief and the sorrow of the daughter of Judah. He violently takes away his tent, as from a garden. And he lays waste his meeting-place. Jehovah has taken away the memory of feast and Sabbath in Zion. In the passion of his wrath he is against king and priest. Jehovah rejected his altar and disowned his holy place. He gave up into the hands of the attacker the walls of her great houses. Their voices have been loud in the house of Jehovah as in the day of a holy meeting.read more.
It is Jehovah's purpose to turn the wall of the daughter of Zion into waste. His line has been stretched out. He has not kept back his hand from destruction. He has sent sorrow on tower and wall. They have become feeble together. Her gates have gone down into the earth. He destroyed her locks and bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations where there is no law. Her prophets have had no vision from Jehovah.

Jehovah, the God of Israel, said: 'You have seen the destruction I brought on Jerusalem and all the other cities of Judah. Even now they are still in ruins, and no one lives in them. This is because their people had done evil and had made me angry. They offered sacrifices to other gods and served gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors ever worshiped. I kept sending you my servants the prophets, who told you not to do this terrible thing that I hate.read more.
But you would not listen or pay any attention. You would not give up your evil practice of sacrificing to other gods. I poured out my anger and fury on the towns of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem. I set them on fire. They were left in ruins and became a horrifying sight, as they are today.'

Jehovah spoke his word to me: Son of man, those who live in the ruined cities in Israel are saying: 'Abraham was only one person, and he was given the land. But we are many. Certainly the land has been given to us.' Tell them: 'The Lord Jehovah says: You eat meat with blood in it. You look to your idols for help. You murder people. Should the land be given to you?read more.
You rely on your swords (military power). You do disgusting things. You dishonor your neighbor's wife. Should the land be given to you?' Tell them: 'This is what the Lord Jehovah says: As I am alive, whoever is in the ruined cities will be killed in battle. Whoever is in the open field will become food for wild animals. Whoever is in fortified places and caves will die from plagues. I will turn the land into a barren wasteland. People will no longer brag about its power. The mountains of Israel will become so ruined that no one will travel through them. Then people will know that I am Jehovah, when I make the land a barren wasteland. This is because of all the disgusting things that they have done.'

Jehovah will surely comfort Zion. He will look with compassion on all her ruins. He will make her deserts like Eden and her wastelands like the garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness will be found in her along with thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins. They will raise up the former devastations. And they will repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.

I am Jehovah, your savior. I am the one who created you. I am Jehovah, the Creator of all things. I alone stretched out the heavens! No one helped me when I made the earth (I was by myself) (Who was with me?). I make fools of fortunetellers and frustrate the predictions of astrologers. The words of the wise I refute and show that their wisdom is foolishness. I make the word of my servant come true. I accomplish the purpose of my messengers. I say of Jerusalem, 'She will be inhabited!' And I say to the cities of Judah, 'You will be rebuilt! I will make your ruins raise up.'

Those among you will rebuild the ancient ruins. You will raise up the age-old foundations. You will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell.

This is what Jehovah says: I am going to bring the captives back to Jacob's tents and show compassion on their homes. Cities will be built on the ruins, and fortified palaces will be built in their rightful place. The people who live there will sing songs of praise. The sound of laughter will be heard from there. I will make them numerous, and their number will not decrease. I will bring them honor, and they will not be considered unimportant.

Jehovah says: The time is coming when I will plant the nations of Israel and Judah with people and animals. I watched over them to uproot them and tear them down, to ruin and hurt them. Now I will watch over them to build them up. I will plant them, says Jehovah.

But you, mountains of Israel, will grow branches and bear fruit for my people Israel. My people will come home soon. I am for you. I will turn to you, and you will be plowed and planted. I will increase the number of people who live on you. All the people of Israel, all of them, will live on you. The cities will be inhabited, and the ruins will be rebuilt.read more.
I will increase the number of people and animals that live on you. They will grow and become many. I will let people live on you as in the past, and I will make you better off than ever before. Then you will know that I am Jehovah. I will bring people, my people Israel, to you. They will take possession of you, and you will be their inheritance. You will no longer take their children away from them.'

In that day I will raise up the fallen tabernacle of David and close up the breaches. I will raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old. They may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations that are called by my name, said Jehovah.

When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people came together like one man to Jerusalem. Then Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, with his brothers, got up and built the altar of the God of Israel for burned offerings. This was according to the Law of Moses, the man of God. The returning exiles were afraid of the people who were living in the land. Regardless of that, they rebuilt the altar where it had stood before. Then they began once again to burn on it the regular morning and evening sacrifices.read more.
They celebrated the Festival of Booths according to what is written. Each day they offered the sacrifices required for that day. They also offered the regular sacrifices to be burned whole and those to be offered at the New Moon Festival and at all the other Festivals of Jehovah, as well as all the offerings that were given to Jehovah voluntarily. The people had not yet started to rebuild the Temple. Yet they began on the first day of the seventh month to burn sacrifices to Jehovah. They gave money to the stoneworkers and woodworkers. Meat and drink and oil were given to the people of Zidon and of Tyre, for the transport of cedar-trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, as Cyrus, king of Persia, had given them authority to do. The second year and third month of their coming to the house of God in Jerusalem Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, took charge of the construction. Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come from the land where they were prisoners to Jerusalem: and the Levites, of twenty years or older, were responsible for overseeing the work of the house of Jehovah. Then Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel with his sons, the sons of Hodaviah, together took up the work of overseeing the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad with their sons and their brothers, the Levites. When the builders laid the foundation of the Temple of Jehovah, the priests, dressed in their robes, took their places with horns, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with brass instruments, to give praise to Jehovah in the way ordered by David, king of Israel. They praised Jehovah and thanked him, saying: He is good; his loving kindness to Israel is for all generations. All the people gave a joyful cry. They praised Jehovah because the foundation of Jehovah's house was in place. Some of the priests, Levites, heads of families and old men who had seen the first house were present. When the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes they were overcome with weeping; and a number were crying out with joy: So that in the ears of the people the cry of joy was mixed with the sound of weeping. The cries of the people were loud and came to the ears of those who were a long way off.

They said to me: The small band of Jews now living there in the land is in deep trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem has been broken down, and its doorways burned with fire. After I heard these words I sat down on the ground and cried for days. I ate no food and offered prayer to the God of heaven.

I stayed at Jerusalem for three days. I got up in the night and took a small band of men with me. I said nothing to any man of what God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem, I had no beast with me but the one on which I was seated. I went in the dark through the gateway of the valley past the Fountain of the Snake (Serpent's Well) as far as the place where waste material was stored. From there I viewed the broken down walls of Jerusalem and the gateways that were burned with fire.read more.
Then I went on to the door of the fountain and to the king's pool: but there was no room for my beast to get through. Then in the night I went up by the stream, viewed the wall and then turned back. I went in by the valley gate. The chiefs had no knowledge of where I had been or what I was doing. I had not then said anything to the Jews or to the priests or the great ones or the chiefs or the rest of those who were doing the work. Then I said to them: You see what a bad condition we are in. How Jerusalem is a waste. It's gateways burned with fire. Come; let us get to work, building up the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer be put to shame. Then I gave them an account of how the hand of my God was on me, helping me. I told them of the king's words he said to me. They said: Let us get to work on the building. So they made their hands strong for the good work. But Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, hearing of it, made sport of us. They laughed at us and said: What are you doing? Will you go against the king? I answered them: The God of heaven will be our help; so we, his servants, will go on with our building. But you have no part or right or any name in Jerusalem.

It was the second year that Darius was king of Persia. Jehovah spoke through Haggai the prophet in the sixth month, on the first day of the month. The message was delivered to the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and to the High Priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak. Jehovah (YHWH) of Hosts said to Haggai: These people say that this is not the right time to rebuild the Temple. Then came the word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet. He said:read more.
Is it time for you to dwell in your roofed and covered houses, while this house is desolate? Jehovah of Hosts said: Consider your ways. You sow much and reap little. You eat but you do not have enough! You drink and yet you are not filled. You clothe yourselves but you are not warm. You earns wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it. Then Jehovah said: Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain and bring lumber, and rebuild my house. I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified, said Jehovah. You looked for much harvest and you received little. When you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? Said Jehovah of Hosts. Because my house lies in waste, while each of you run to his house. It is because of you that the sky above you withholds the dew, and the earth below withholds its produce. I brought drought on the land and its hills, grain fields, vineyards, and olive orchards. Yes drought on every crop the ground produces, on people and animals, on everything you try to grow. Governor Zerubbabel and Joshua the High Priest and all the people who returned from the exile in Babylon did what Jehovah God told them to do. They were afraid and obeyed Jehovah's messenger, Haggai the prophet. Then Haggai gave Jehovah's message to the people: I am with you! Jehovah inspired everyone to work on the Temple. That included: Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah; Joshua, the High Priest, and all the people who had returned from the exile. They worked on the house of Jehovah of Hosts, their God. This was on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month of the second year that Darius was king.

And it will come about that all who see you will go in flight from you and say, Nineveh is devastated: who will weep for her? Where will I get comforters for her?

He will stretch out his hand (exercise his power) against the north, and destroy Assyria. He will make Nineveh a desolation. It will be barren like the desert wilderness. And herds will lie down in her midst, all the beasts of the nations. The pelican and the porcupine will lodge on the top of her pillars. Their voice will sing (hoot) (croak) in the windows. Desolation will be in the thresholds for he will lay bare that which is built with cedar. This is the joyous city that dwelled in security. She said in her heart, 'I am! There is no one else!' She has become an object of desolation, a place for wild animals to lie down in. Every one who passes by her will hiss, and wag his hand.

Babylon, the beauty (honor) (glory) of kingdoms, the majesty of Chaldean pride, will be overthrew by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation! Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there. Nor will shepherds take their flocks there. But desert animals will lie down there. Their houses will be full of owls! Shaggy goats (demons) will play there and ostriches will dance there.read more.
Wild beasts will howl in her fortified towers and jackals in her luxurious temples. Her time also will soon come and her days will not be prolonged.

Look at the land of the Chaldeans. This is the people that were not. Assyria appointed it for desert creatures. They erected their siege towers and they stripped its palaces. They made it a ruin!

Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants.

The word of Jehovah continued to come to me: Son of man, set your face (commit yourself) against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it. Say this, 'the Lord Jehovah says: I am against you, Mount Seir! I will stretch out my hand (exert my power) against you and make you a desolation and a waste.read more.
I will lay waste your cities and you will become desolated. Then you will know that I am Jehovah.

I have loved you, said Jehovah. You replied: How have you loved us? Was Esau Jacob's brother? Responded Jehovah: Yet I loved Jacob. And yet I hated Esau and his descendants. I devastated Esau's hill country and abandoned his inheritance to the desert jackals. Esau's descendants, the Edomites, say: Our towns have been destroyed, but we will rebuild them. Thus Jehovah (YHWH) will reply: Let them rebuild. I will tear them down again. People will call them the evil country. They are the nation with whom Jehovah has a long lasting anger.

Pack your bags inhabitants of Egypt, because you will be taken away as captives. Memphis will become a dreary wasteland, a pile of rubble where no one lives.

Therefore the Lord Jehovah says: I will bring upon you a sword and I will cut off from you man and beast. The land of Egypt will become a desolation and waste. Then they will know that I am Jehovah. Because you said: 'The Nile is mine, and I have made it.' I am against you and against your rivers. I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene and even to the border of Ethiopia.read more.
A man's foot will not pass through it, and the foot of a beast will not pass through it, and it will not be inhabited for forty years. So I will make the land of Egypt desolation in the midst of desolated lands. And her cities, in the midst of cities that are laid waste, will be desolate forty years. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands.

This is what the Lord Jehovah said about [MOAB]: Pity the people of Nebo. Their town is destroyed! Kiriathaim is captured, its mighty fortress torn down, and its people put to shame.

For Gaza will be abandoned. Ashkelon will be a desolate waste. They will drive out Ashdod at high noon. Ekron will be exterminated. Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of Jehovah is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will destroy you and you will not be inhabited. The seacoast will be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and pens for sheep.

Therefore the Lord Jehovah says: 'I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. They will destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers. I will scrape her debris from her and make her a bare rock.

When Israel finished slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness where they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned to Ai, and killed it with the edge of the sword. Twelve thousand men and women of Ai were killed that day. Joshua did not withdraw his hand. He stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.read more.
Israel took the cattle and the spoil of that city for preys for themselves, according to the word Jehovah commanded Joshua. Joshua burnt Ai and made it a heap forever, even desolation to this day. He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening. As soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they take his carcass down from the tree and throw it at the entering gate of the city. They raised a large pile of rocks over it that is there to this day.

In the spring, the time when kings go out to battle, Joab led the army to war. They destroyed the Ammonites and came to Rabbah to attack it, while David stayed in Jerusalem. Joab defeated Rabbah and tore it down.

A nation has invaded my land. It is strong and very large. His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the jaw-teeth of a lioness. He has laid my vine waste and stripped off the bark of my fig tree. He stripped its branches white and clean and threw it away. Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.read more.
The meal offering and the drink offering are removed from the house of Jehovah. The priests and Jehovah's ministers mourn. The field is laid waste, the land mourns. The grain is destroyed, the new wine dried up, the oil fails. Be ashamed you farmers. Cry you vinedressers. The wheat, the barley and the harvest of the field have perished. The vine and the fig tree fail. The pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field have dried up. Joy has withered away from the sons of men.

Jehovah lays the earth waste, annihilates it, disfigures its surface and scatters its inhabitants. The people will be like the one officiating, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. The earth will be completely uninhabitable and totally plundered. Jehovah has spoken this word.read more.
The earth mourns and fades away, the world fades and withers, the exalted people of the earth mourn. The inhabitants of the earth pollute the earth. They transgress laws and violate statutes. They break the everlasting covenant. A curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are found guilty. Therefore, those living on the earth are burned, and few men are left. The new wine mourns, the vine decays and the merry-hearted sigh. The joyful sound of tambourines ceases. The noise of revelers and the delight of the harp cease. They no longer drink wine with a song. The beverage is bitter to its drinkers. The ruined city lies desolate. The entrance to every house is barred and none may enter. In the streets they cry out for wine. Joy turns to gloom and rejoicing is banished from the earth. The city is left in ruins; its gate is battered to pieces. So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.

By this Jacob's guilt will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruitage of the removal of his sin. When he makes all the altar stones to be like chalk stones crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing. The fortified city stands desolate, abandoned settlements, forsaken like the desert. There the calves will graze, there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.

Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. A loud voice came out of the temple of heaven. It said: It is done! There were voices, and thunders, and lightnings. There was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. God remembered Babylon the Great. He gave her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his anger (wrath).read more.
Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. There fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent (45 to 100 pounds). Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for the plague was exceeding great.

A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and hurled it into the sea. He said: With violence the great city Babylon will be thrown down, and it will not be found any longer. The sound of harp players, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, will not be heard anymore in you. No craftsman will be found in you. The sound of a millstone will not be heard in you anymore. There will no longer be the light of a candle in you. The voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will be heard no more at all in you. Your merchants were the great men of the earth; for by your spiritistic practice all nations were deceived.

Then Elijah said to all the people: Come near to me. Then all the people came near. He repaired the altar of Jehovah that was broken down.

Jehoash became king of Judah. It was the seventh year of Jehu's rule over Israel. Jehoash ruled for forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba. Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of Jehovah all his days, because he was guided by the teaching of Jehoiada the priest. The high places were not taken away. The people continued making offerings and burning them in the high places.read more.
Jehoash said to the priests: All the money of the holy things, which comes into the house of Jehovah, the amount fixed for every man's payment, and all the money given by any man freely by motivation of his heart, Let the priests take, every man from his friends and neighbors, to make good what is damaged in the Temple, wherever it is to be seen. But in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had not made good the damaged parts of the Temple. He called in Jehoiada and the other priests and asked them: Why are you not repairing the Temple? From now on you are not to keep the money you receive. You must hand it over, so that the repairs can be made. The priests agreed to this and also agreed not to make the repairs in the Temple. Then Jehoiada took a box, made a hole in the lid, and placed the box by the altar, on the right side as one enters the Temple. The priests on duty at the entrance put in the box all the money given by the worshipers. Whenever there was a large amount of money in the box, the royal secretary and the High Priest would come, melt down the silver, and weigh it. After recording the exact amount, they would hand the silver over to the men in charge of the work in the Temple. These would pay the carpenters, the builders, the masons, and the stonecutters, buy the timber and the stones used in the repairs, and pay all other necessary expenses.

Joash wanted to renovate Jehovah's Temple. He gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them: Go to the cities of Judah, and collect money throughout Israel to repair the Temple of your God every year. Do it immediately! But the Levites did not do it immediately. The king called for the chief priest Jehoiada and asked him: Why have you not required the Levites to bring the contributions from Judah and Jerusalem? Jehovah's servant Moses and the assembly required Israel to give contributions for the use of the Tent of Testimony of God's promise.read more.
The sons of that wicked woman Athaliah had broken into God's Temple and used all the holy things of Jehovah's Temple to worship other gods, the Baals. The king issued an order. They made a box and placed it outside the gate of Jehovah's Temple. They issued a proclamation in Judah and Jerusalem that the contributions should be brought to Jehovah. Moses required Israel to make contributions while they were in the desert. All the officials and all the people were filled with joy. They brought money and dropped it into the box until it was full. When the Levites brought the box to the king's officers and they saw a lot of money. The king's scribe and the chief priest's officer would empty the box and put it back in its place. They would do this every day. They collected a lot of money. The king and Jehoiada gave the money to the foremen who were working on Jehovah's Temple. They hired masons and carpenters to renovate Jehovah's Temple. They also hired men who worked with iron and bronze to repair Jehovah's Temple. The men worked and the project progressed under the foremen's guidance. They restored God's Temple to its proper condition and reinforced it.

Now in the eighteenth year after he became king, Josiah sent Shaphan son of Azaliah son of Meshullam the scribe, to the Temple of Jehovah. He said to him: Go to Hilkiah the high priest. Let him count the money brought into the Temple of Jehovah that the keepers of the door gathered from the people. Let them deliver it to the workmen who have oversight of the work of Jehovah's Temple. Then they can pay it to the workmen who are making good what was damaged in the Temple of Jehovah.read more.
To the woodworkers and the builders and the stonecutters; and for getting wood and cut stones for building the Temple. Since the workmen are honest, do not require them to account for the money you give them.

In his eighteenth year as king as he was making the land and the temple clean, Josiah sent Shaphan, son of Azaliah, Maaseiah, the mayor of the city, and Joah, the royal historian and son of Joahaz, to repair the Temple of Jehovah his God. They came to the chief priest Hilkiah and gave him the money that had been brought into God's Temple. It was the money that the Levite doorkeepers had collected from the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, from all who were left in Israel, from everyone in the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They gave the money to the foremen who were in charge of Jehovah's Temple. These foremen gave it to the workmen who were restoring and repairing the Temple.read more.
These workers included carpenters and builders. They were to buy quarried stones and wood for the fittings and beams of the buildings that the kings of Judah had allowed to become run-down. The men did their work faithfully under the supervision of Jahath and Obadiah; Levites descended from Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam descendants of Kohath. The Levites, who were skilled musicians, also supervised the workers and directed all the workmen on the various jobs. Some of the Levites served as scribes, officials, or gatekeepers.

He who cannot control his own spirit (life) is as helpless as a city without walls, open to trouble.

For now I would be lying down in peace. I would be asleep and at rest. I would be with kings and counselors of the earth, who built for themselves places now lying in ruins.

His face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh. He will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling to rubble.