63 Bible Verses about Ruins

" 'And if through this you do not listen to me and you go against me in hostility, then I will go against you in hostile anger, and also I myself will discipline you seven times for your sins. And you shall eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat.read more.
And I will destroy your high places, and I will cut down your incense altars, and I will place your corpses on your idols' corpses; and my inner self shall abhor you. And I will lay your cities [in] ruins, and I will lay waste your sanctuaries; and I shall not smell your [sacrifices'] appeasing fragrance. And I myself will lay waste the land, and your enemies who are living in it shall be appalled over it. And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw a sword behind you; and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a ruin.

And [then] you shall gather all of its booty into the middle of its public square, and you shall burn the town and all [of] its war-booty totally for Yahweh your God, and it shall be {a pile of rubble forever}; it shall not be built again.

Yahweh will raise [up] against you a nation from far [off], from the end of the earth, [attacking] as the eagle swoops [down], {a nation whose language you will not understand}, {a grim-faced nation} {who does not show respect} to [the] old and [the] young [and] does not show pity. And it shall consume the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground {until you are destroyed}, [and] who will not leave for you [any] grain, wine, and olive oil, {calves of your herds}, and {lambs of} your flock {until it has destroyed you}.read more.
And it shall besiege you in all your towns {until your high and fortified walls fall}, which you [are] trusting in {throughout your land}; and it shall besiege you in all of your towns in all of your land that Yahweh your God has given to you.

And I will make Jerusalem as heaps [of ruins], a lair of jackals, and the towns of Judah I will make a desolation, {without inhabitants}.

So I will make Samaria as a heap of rubble in the field, a place for planting a vineyard. And I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations. Then all her idols will be broken in pieces, and all her prostitution wages will be burned in the fire, and all her idols I will make a desolation, For from the wage of a prostitute she gathered [them], and to the wage of a prostitute they will return.

And now let me tell you what I myself am about to do to my vineyard. [I will] remove its hedge, and it shall become a devastation. [I will] break down its wall, and it shall become a trampling. And I will make it a wasteland; it shall not be pruned and hoed, and it shall be overgrown [with] briers and thornbushes. And concerning the clouds, I will command {them not to send} rain down upon it. For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts [is] the house of Israel, and the man of Judah [is] the plantation of his delight. [And] he waited for justice, but look! Bloodshed! For righteousness, but look! A cry of distress!

Then I said, "Until when, Lord?" And he said, "Until [the] cities lie wasted without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is ruined [and] a waste, and Yahweh sends the people far away, and the abandonment is great in the midst of the land. And {even if only a tenth part remain}, {again she will be destroyed} like terebinth or like [an] oak, which although felled, a tree stump [remains] in them. [The] seed of holiness [will be] her tree stump."

A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has gone out from his place to make your land as a horror, your cities will go to ruin {without} inhabitant.

But if you do not obey these words, I swear by myself," {declares} Yahweh, "that this house will become a site of ruins." '"

In all of your dwellings, the cities will be desolate and the high places will be ruined, so that your altars will be desolate and will suffer punishment. Your idols will be broken and will come to an end, and your incense altars will be cut down, and your works will be destroyed, and the slain one will fall in the midst of you, and [then] you will know that I [am] Yahweh.

A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I will make it! Also this has not [ever] happened; [it will remain] until the coming of [the one] [to] whom the judgment belongs and I have given it [to him].'

"Listen and testify against the house of Jacob," {declares} my Lord Yahweh, the God of hosts. "For on the day I punish Israel for {its transgression}, I will also punish the altars of Bethel and the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground. I will ruin the winter house as well as the summer house, and the houses of ivory will perish and the great houses shall come to an end," {declares} Yahweh.

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

In the fifth month, on the seventh of the month, that is, the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, a commander of the imperial guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came [to] Jerusalem. He burned the temple of Yahweh, the palace of the king, and all of the houses of Jerusalem; every large house he burned with fire. He and all the army of [the] Chaldeans who [were with] the imperial guard tore down the wall of Jerusalem all around.read more.
The remainder of the people left in the city, the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the remainder of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the commander of the imperial guard deported. But the poor of the land the commander of the imperial guard left for the vineyards and for tilling. The bronze pillars which [were in] the temple of Yahweh, the water carts, and the bronze sea that was in the temple of Yahweh, the Chaldeans broke into pieces and carried their bronze to Babylon. The pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the dishes, and the vessels of bronze with which they served there, they took. The firepans and the basins, whatever was gold, the commander of the imperial guard took [for] the gold and whatever was silver, [for] the silver.

Therefore he brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, and he killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary. He showed no mercy on a young man, a virgin, [the] elderly, or decrepit. He delivered all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, the great and the small, the storehouses of the house of Yahweh, and the storehouses of the king and his princes, these all he brought to Babylon. And they burned the house of God. And they shattered the walls of Jerusalem and burned its citadels with fire and destroyed all the vessels of its treasuries.

And the Chaldeans burned the palace of the king and the houses of the people with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. Then the rest of the people who were left in the city, and those deserting who had deserted to him, and the rest of the people who remained, Nebuzaradan, [the] captain of [the] guard, deported [to] Babylon. And some of the poor people, {who had nothing}, Nebuzaradan, [the] captain of [the] guard, left in the land of Judah. And he gave them vineyards and fields on that day.

Now in the fifth month, on the tenth [day] of the month, which [was the] nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan [the] captain of [the] guard, who stood {before} the king of Babylon, entered into Jerusalem. And he burned the {temple} of Yahweh, and the palace of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house he burned with fire. And all the army of [the] Chaldeans who [were] with [the] captain of [the] guard broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.read more.
And Nebuzaradan [the] captain of [the] guard deported [some] of the poor of the people, and the rest of the people who were left in the city, and the deserters who deserted to the king of Babylon, along with the rest of the craftsmen. But Nebuzaradan [the] captain of [the] guard left [some] of the poor of the land [to serve] as vinedressers and farmers. And [the] Chaldeans broke the pillars of bronze that [were] in the {temple} of Yahweh, and the kettle stands and the sea of bronze that [were] in the {temple} of Yahweh, and they carried all their bronze [to] Babylon. And they took with them the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the sprinkling bowls, and the pans, and all the vessels of bronze which [were used in temple] service. And [the] captain of [the] guard [took] the bowls, and the firepans, and the sprinkling bowls, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the pans, and the libation bowls, {those made of solid gold} and {those made of solid silver}.

You have repudiated the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dirt. You have broken down all his walls; you have made his fortifications a ruin. All passing along [the] road plunder him; he has become a taunt to his neighbors.

Lift your steps to the perpetual ruins, [to] all [that the] enemy has ruined in the sanctuary.

Why have you broken down its walls, so that all [who] pass on [the] road pluck [fruit from] it? Swine from the forests devour it and creatures of [the] field feed on it. Please return, O God [of] hosts. Observe from heaven and see, and pay attention to this vine,read more.
even[the] stalk that your right hand planted, and concerning [the] shoot you strengthened for yourself. [It is] burned with fire, cut down. They perish at the rebuke of your face.

Yet now Yahweh, you [are] our father; we [are] the clay and you [are] our {potter}, and we all [are] the work of your hand. You must not be exceedingly angry, Yahweh, and you must not remember iniquity forever! Look! Behold, now! We all [are] your people! {Your holy cities} have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.read more.
{Our holy and beautiful temple}, where our ancestors praised you has {been burned} [by] fire, and all our precious objects have become ruins. Will you control yourself because of these, Yahweh? Will you be silent? And will you oppress us exceedingly?

The Lord has become like an enemy; he has destroyed Israel; he has destroyed all its citadel fortresses; he has ruined all its fortifications and multiplied lamentation and mourning in the daughter of Judah. He has broken down {his dwelling} place like the garden; he has ruined his appointed feasts; Yahweh has made [them] forget in Zion {festival} and Sabbath, and he has despised in his anger king and priest. The Lord has rejected his altar; he has rejected his sanctuary; he has delivered into the hands of the enemy the walls of its citadel fortresses. They have cried out in the house of Yahweh like a day of an appointed feast.read more.
Yahweh has planned to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He measured [with] a line; he has not restrained his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to mourn; together they have languished away. Her gates have sunk into the earth; he has ruined and broken her bars, her kings and its princes [are] among the nations; there is no more law. Also, her prophets have not found a revelation from Yahweh.

"Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: 'You yourselves have seen all the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the towns of Judah. And look, they [are] a site of ruins this day, and there is not in them an inhabitant, {because of} their wickedness that they committed to provoke me to anger by going to make smoke offerings, serving other gods whom they had not known, [neither] they, you, or your ancestors. And I sent to you all my servants the prophets, {sending over and over again}, {saying}, "Please, you must not do this detestable thing that I hate."read more.
But they did not listen and they did not incline their ears to turn back from their wickedness, to not make smoke offerings to other gods. So my wrath and my anger were poured out and burned in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became as a site of ruins, as a desolation, as [they are] this day.'

And the word of Yahweh {came} to me, {saying}, "Son of man, the inhabitants of these ruins on the soil of Israel [are] saying, 'Abraham was one [man], and he took possession of the land, and we [are] many; the land has been given for us as possession.' Therefore say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "You eat blood [in your meat], and you raise your eyes to your idols and you pour out blood, and [yet] you want to take possession of the land?read more.
You rely on your sword, you do a detestable thing, and {each man defiles} the wife of his neighbor, and [yet] you want to take possession of the land?" ' "Thus you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "{As I live}, {surely} whoever [is] in the ruins, by the sword they will fall, and whoever [is] on the surface of the open field, I will give him to the animals to eat him, and whoever [is] in the stronghold and in the cave, they will die by the plague. And I will make the land desolation and wasteland, and the pride of its strength will come to an end, and the mountains of Israel will be desolate {with no one traveling through them}." ' And they will know that I [am] Yahweh when I make my land desolation and wasteland, because of all of their detestable things that they have done.

For Yahweh will comfort Zion; he will comfort all its sites of ruins. And he will {make} its wilderness like Eden, and its desert like the garden of Yahweh. Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and [the] {sound} of song.

And they shall build [the] ancient ruins, they shall erect [the] former deserted [places]. And they shall restore [the] {devastated cities}, [the] deserted [places] of {many generations}.

Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer, and he who formed you in [the] womb: "I [am] Yahweh, who made everything, who stretched out [the] heavens alone, who spread out the earth--who [was] with me?-- who frustrates [the] signs of oracle priests and makes a fool of diviners, who drives [the] wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish, who keeps the word of his servant and carries out the plan of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, 'It shall be inhabited,' and of the cities of Judah, 'They shall be rebuilt, and I will restore its ruins';

And they shall rebuild ancient ruins from you; you shall erect [the] foundations of {many generations,} and {you shall be called} [the] bricklayer [of] [the] breach, [the] restorer of paths to live [in].

Thus says Yahweh: 'Look, I [will] restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob, and I will have compassion on his dwellings, and [the] city will be rebuilt upon its mound, and [the] citadel fortress will stand on its rightful site. And thanksgiving and [the] sound of merrymakers will come out from them, and I will make them numerous, and they will not be few. And I will make them honored, and they will not be lowly.

"Look, [the] days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah [with the] seed of humankind, and [with the] seed of animals. {And then} as I have watched over them to pull up, and to tear down, and to annihilate, and to destroy, and to do evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant," {declares} Yahweh.

" '"But you, mountains of Israel, your branch you will shoot, and your fruit you will carry for my people Israel, for they [are] soon to come. For look! I [am] for you, and I will turn you, and you will be tilled, and you will be planted. And I will cause {your population} to increase for you, all of the house of Israel, all of it, and the towns will be inhabited, and the ruins will be built.read more.
And I will cause {your population} to increase for you, and domestic animals, [even] they will be numerous, and they will be fruitful, and I will cause you to be inhabited like your {ancient times}, and I will do good [things] more than [in] your former times, and you will know that I [am] Yahweh. And I will send over you my people Israel, and they will take possession of you, and you will be for them as an inheritance, and {you will no longer bereave them of their children}."

On that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen, and I will repair its breaches and will raise up its ruins and will build it like the days of old. Thus they may take possession of the remnant of Edom and all the nations {who are called by my name}," {declares} Yahweh, [who] does this.

Now the seventh month drew near and the {Israelites} [were] in the cities, [so] the people gathered as {one} in Jerusalem. And Jeshua son of Jehozadak and his brothers the priests stood up, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers built the altar of the God of Israel, in order to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. They set up the altar on its foundations, because {they were in terror} because of the peoples of the lands. And they offered burnt offerings on it for Yahweh, burnt offerings for the morning and the evening.read more.
And they kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and [offered] burnt offerings day by day in number according to the ordinance {as described for each day}. After [this, they presented] the daily sacrifice of burnt offerings, [the offerings] for the New Moon Festival, and for all of the appointed times consecrated for Yahweh and for all who gave a freewill offering to Yahweh. From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh. But the temple of Yahweh was not yet founded. So they gave money to the stone craftsmen and skilled craftsmen, and food, drink, and olive oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the authorization over them of Cyrus king of Persia. In the second year after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jehozadak began [their work], and the remainder of their brothers the priests and the Levites and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem. They appointed the Levites {from twenty years and older} to direct the work of the house of Yahweh. And Jeshua [with] his sons and brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons--the sons of Judah--together directed the workers in the house of God, [along with] the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers the Levites. And the builders laid the foundation of the temple of Yahweh, and the priests [in their] apparel with the trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with the cymbals, were positioned to praise Yahweh, {as described by} King David of Israel. And they {sang responsively}, with praising and thanksgiving to Yahweh [saying], "For he is good, for his loyal love is everlasting for Israel." And all of the people responded with a great shout of joyful acclaim in praise to Yahweh because the house of Yahweh was laid. But many of the elderly priests, Levites, and heads of the families who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house, but many {shouted aloud with joy}. No person could distinguish the sound of joyful acclaim from the sound of people weeping, for the people shouted with great joyful acclaim and the sound was heard from afar.

They replied to me, "The survivors in the province who have survived the captivity are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned in the fire." When I heard these words, I sat and wept and mourned for days, and I was fasting and praying before the God of the heavens.

I came to Jerusalem and was there for three days. I got up during the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anybody what my God put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. No animal [was] with me except the animal that I was riding on. I went out during the night at the gate of the valley by the Dragon spring and to the Dung Gate. And I examined the walls in Jerusalem and its gates that had been destroyed by the fire.read more.
I crossed over to the Fountain Gate and to the King's Pool, but there was no place for {my mount} to cross over. So I went up by the valley during the night and was examining the wall. Then I returned and came to the Valley Gate and returned. The prefects did not know where I had gone and what I was doing. I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the prefects, and the rest of the workers. Then I said to them, "You see the misery that we are in, that Jerusalem is ruined and its gates burned by the fire. Come, build the walls of Jerusalem and we shall no longer be a disgrace." I told them of the good hand of my God that was upon me and surely the words of the king that were spoken to me. And they said, "Let us arise and build!" And they strengthened their hands for [this] good work. But Sanballat the Horonite, the Ammonite servant Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab heard it, and they mocked and despised us, saying, "What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?" Then I answered and said to them, "The God of the heavens himself will let us succeed, and we his servants shall arise and build. But for you there is no share, right, or memorial in Jerusalem."

In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on [the] first day, the word of Yahweh came {through} Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, "Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'This people says, "{The time has not come to rebuild the temple of Yahweh}.'" And the word of Yahweh came {through} Haggai the prophet, saying,read more.
"[Is it] a time for you yourselves to dwell in your houses that have been paneled [while] this house [is] desolate?" And so then, thus says Yahweh of hosts: '{Consider your ways}! You have sown much but have harvested little. You have eaten without [being] satisfied; {you have drunk without being satiated}; you have worn clothes without [being] warm; the one who earns wages puts it in {a pouch with holes}.' Thus says Yahweh of hosts: '{Consider your ways}! Go up the mountain and bring wood and build the house so that I may be pleased with it and honored,' says Yahweh. 'You have looked for much, and look! [It came] to little; and [when] you brought [it] home, I blew it [away]. Why?' {declares} Yahweh of hosts. 'Because my house [is] desolate and you [are] running each to your own house! Therefore, because of you [the] heavens have withheld [the] dew and the earth has withheld its produce. I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil, on what the soil produces, on human beings and wild animals, and on {all their labor}.'" Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all the remnant of the people gave heed to the voice of Yahweh their God and to the words of Haggai the prophet, as Yahweh their God had sent him, {and the people feared Yahweh}. And Haggai the messenger of Yahweh spoke to the people with the message of Yahweh, saying, " 'I [am] with you' {declares} Yahweh." And Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and did [the] work on the house of Yahweh of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.

"And it will be that everyone who sees you will flee from you, And {they} will say, 'Nineveh is destroyed!' Who will mourn for her? From whence shall I seek comforters for you?"

And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and he will destroy Assyria and will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry wasteland like the desert. Herds shall lie down in her midst, every wild animal of a nation; even the desert owl and the screech owl shall lodge on her capitals. A voice shall hoot in the window; rubble on the threshold; for the cedar [is] laid bare. This [is] the city of rejoicing that lived securely; the one saying in her heart, "{I am, and there is none besides me}." How she has become a desolation, a lair for wild animals! Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

And Babylon, [the] glory of kingdoms, the splendor of the Chaldeans' pride, will be like {when God overthrew} Sodom and Gomorrah. It will not be inhabited forever, and it will not be dwelled in {forever}; and no Arab will pitch a tent there, and shepherds will not allow [their flocks] to lie down there. But wild animals will lie down there, and their houses will be full [of] howling creatures, and the daughters of ostriches will live there, and goats will dance there.read more.
And hyenas will answer in its palaces, and jackals in the pleasure palaces; and its time {is coming soon}, and its days will not be prolonged.

Look [at] the land of the Chaldeans! {This people no longer exists. Assyria destined} it for wild animals. They erected its siege towers; they demolished its citadel fortresses. It made her like a ruin.

And Babylon will become as a heap of stones, a lair of jackals, [an object of] horror, and [an object of] hissing, {without} inhabitants.

And the word of Yahweh {came} to me, {saying}, "Son of man, set your face against the mountain of Seir and prophesy against it, and you must say to it, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I am against you, mountain of Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will make you desolation and wasteland.read more.
Your cities I will make ruins, and you will be desolation, and [then] you will know that I [am] Yahweh,

"I have loved you," says Yahweh, but you say, "How have you loved us?" "[Is] Esau not Jacob's brother?" {declares} Yahweh. "I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated. I have made his mountain ranges a desolation, and [given] his inheritance to the jackals of [the] desert." If Edom says, "We are shattered, but we will return and rebuild [the] ruins," Yahweh of hosts says this: "They may build, but I will tear down; and they will be called a territory of wickedness, and the people [with] whom Yahweh is angry forever."

Pack [your] baggage for exile, O inhabitants of the daughter of Egypt, for Memphis will become as a horror, and it will be destroyed, {without} inhabitant.

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I [am] bringing on you sword, and I will cut off from you human and animal. And the land of Egypt will become desolation and ruins, and they will know that I [am] Yahweh because he said, 'The Nile [is] {mine}! And I, I made [it]!' Therefore look! I [am] against you and against your Nile streams, and I will make the land of Egypt into ruins, pile of rubble, desolation from Migdol [to] Syene and up to the boundary of Cush.read more.
A foot of a human will not pass over it, and a foot of an animal will not pass over it, and so it will not be inhabited [for] forty years. And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries, and its cities [to be] in the midst of ruined cities. They will be desolation [for] forty years, and I will scatter Egypt among the nations, and I will disperse them among the countries."

Concerning Moab, thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: "Woe to Nebo, for it is devastated. It is ashamed, Kiriathaim is captured. Misgab is ashamed, and it is filled with terror.

For Gaza will be abandoned, and Ashkelon as a desolation. [As for] Ashdod, at noon they will drive her away, and Ekron shall be uprooted. Woe [to you], inhabitants of the region of the sea, people of the Kerethites! The word of Yahweh [is] against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines. I will destroy you {until there is no inhabitant}. And you, O region of the sea, shall become pastures [and] meadows [for] shepherds and sheep pens [for the] flocks.

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Look! I [am] against you, Tyre, and I will bring up against you many nations like the stirring up of the sea {stirring up its waves}. And I will destroy the walls of Tyre, and they will demolish its towers, and I will scrape away its earthen dirt from it, and I will make it into {a bare rock}.

When Israel finished slaughtering all the inhabitants of Ai in the open field, in the wilderness where they pursued them, and when all of them had fallen by {the edge of the sword} until they all had perished, all Israel returned [to] Ai and attacked it with {the edge of the sword}. All the people that fell on that day, both men and women, [were] twelve thousand--all the inhabitants of Ai. For Joshua did not draw back his hand that was stretched out with the sword until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.read more.
Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of Yahweh that Joshua commanded. So Joshua burned Ai and made it an everlasting heap of rubbish, a desolate place until this day. The king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the time of evening, and as the sun went down Joshua commanded [them], and they brought down his dead body from the tree. Then they threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and they raised over it a great heap of stones [that remains] to this day.

And it happened [that] {in the spring time of year}, the time [when] kings go out [to battle], Joab led the troops of the army and destroyed the land of the {Ammonites}. And he came and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem. And Joab struck Rabbah and destroyed it.

Because a nation has {invaded} my land, strong {and beyond counting}. Its teeth [are] the teeth of a lion, and its fangs [are those] of a lioness. It has made my vine a desolation, and my fig tree a completely splintered stump. It has stripped them bare and thrown [them] down; their branches have turned white. Lament like a virgin girded in sackcloth for the husband of her youth.read more.
The offering and libation are withheld from the house of Yahweh. The priests mourn, the ministers of Yahweh. The field is destroyed; the earth mourns because [the] grain is destroyed, [the] new wine dries up, [the] olive oil languishes. Be ashamed, farmers; Wail, vinedressers, over [the] wheat and over [the] barley, because [the] harvest of the field is ruined. The vine withers and the fig tree droops. The pomegranate tree, and also the palm tree, the apple tree --all the trees of the field--are dried up. Indeed, joy is dried up among the sons of men.

Look! Yahweh [is] about to lay the earth waste and [is] about to devastate it, and he will twist her surface, and he will scatter her inhabitants. And it shall be as [with] the people, so [with] the priest; as [with] the slave, so [with] his master; as [with] the female slave, so [with] her mistress; as [with] the buyer, so [with] the seller; as [with] the lender, so [with] the borrower; as [with] the creditor, so [with] [the one] to whom he lends. The earth shall be utterly laid waste, and it shall be utterly plundered, for Yahweh has spoken this word.read more.
The earth dries up, it withers; [the] world languishes, it withers. The elevated of the people of the earth languish, and the earth is defiled beneath its inhabitants. For they have transgressed laws; they have passed by statutes; they have broken [the] everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours [the] earth, and the inhabitants in it suffer for their guilt. Therefore [the] inhabitants of [the] earth burn, and {few men are left}. [The] new wine dries up; [the] vine languishes. All [the] merry of heart sigh; [the] joy of [the] tambourine has stopped. The noise of [the] jubilant has ceased; [the] joy of [the] lyre has stopped. They do not drink wine with song; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. [The] city of emptiness is broken; every house is shut {so that no one can enter}; [there is] an outcry over the wine in the streets. All joy turns into {darkness}; the joy of the earth disappears. Desolation is left in the city; [the] gate is crushed [into] a state of ruin. For it shall be like this in the midst of the earth, among the nations, like [the] beating of an olive tree, like gleanings when a grape harvest is at an end.

Therefore by this he will make atonement [for] the guilt of Jacob, and this [will be] all of [the] fruit [of] the removal of his sin: {when he makes} all [the] stones of [the] altar like crushed stones of chalk, no poles of Asherah worship or incense altars will stand. For [the] fortified city [is] solitary, a settlement deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness; [the] calf grazes there, lies down there and destroys its branches.

And the seventh poured out his bowl on the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, "It is done!" And there were lightnings and sounds and thunders, and there was a great earthquake, as has not happened from the [time] humanity has been on the earth--so great in this way [was] the earthquake. And the great city was [split] into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of his furious wrath.read more.
And every island fled, and mountains were not found. And large hailstones, weighing about a hundred pounds, came down from the sky upon people, and the people blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, because the plague of it was very great.

And one powerful angel picked up a stone like a great millstone and threw [it] into the sea, saying, "In this way Babylon the great city will be thrown down with violence, and will never be found again! And the sound of harpists and musicians and flute players and trumpeters will never be heard in you again! And every craftsman of every trade will never be found in you again! And the sound of a mill will never be heard in you again! And the light of a lamp will never shine in you again! And the sound of a bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again! For your merchants were the most important people of the earth, because with your sorcery they deceived all the nations.

Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me," so all the people came closer to him. He repaired the altar of Yahweh [that had been] destroyed.

In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king. He reigned in Jerusalem forty years, and the name of his mother [was] Zibiah from Beersheba. Jehoash did right in the eyes of Yahweh all of his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. Only the high places were not removed; the people [were] still making sacrifices and offering incense on the high places.read more.
Jehoash said to the priests, "All of the money for the sacred things that is brought to the temple of Yahweh, {the money taxed at its proper value for each person} [and] all of the money which comes upon the heart of a man to bring to the temple of Yahweh, let the priests take for themselves, each from his treasurers, and let them repair the breach of the temple for every place where damage is found." It happened in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash that the priests had not repaired the damage in the temple. So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the priests, and he said to them, "Why are you not repairing the damage in the temple? Now, you shall not take money from your treasurers for the damage in the temple. You must provide it." So the priests agreed not to take money from the people and not to repair the damage to the temple. Then Jehoiada the priest took a certain chest and bored a hole in its lid, and he put it beside the altar to the right as a man enters into the temple of Yahweh; then the priests who were keepers of the threshold would put there all of the money brought into the temple. It happened that when they saw a great deal of money in the chest, the secretary of the king and the high priest would come up, put the money in bags, then count the money found in the temple of Yahweh. They placed the money, [which was] weighed out, into the hands of the workers who were appointed over the temple of Yahweh, and they paid [it to] the skilled craftsmen of wood and [to] the builders working on the temple of Yahweh and to the masons and the stonecutters, to buy timber and stones for hewing, in order to repair the damage of the temple of Yahweh, and for all who went to the temple to repair it.

And afterward it was in the heart of Joash to repair the house of Yahweh. So he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, "Go out to the cities of Judah and gather money from all Israel to strengthen the house of your God sufficiently year by year. Now you yourselves must hasten to the matter." But the Levites did not act with haste. So the king called Jehoiada the chief, and he said to him, "Why have you not required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the tax of Moses, the servant of Yahweh, and [of] the assembly of Israel for the tent of the testimony?"read more.
For the sons of the wicked Athaliah had broken into the house of God and had used all the holy vessels of the house of Yahweh for the Baals. Then the king commanded, and they made a chest and put it at the gate outside the house of Yahweh. And {they issued a proclamation} in Judah and in Jerusalem to bring to Yahweh the tax [that] Moses the servant of God [had levied] upon Israel in the wilderness. And all the princes and all the people rejoiced, and they brought [their tax] and threw [it] into the chest until [it was] finished. And whenever he brought the chest to the appointee of the king by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that [there was] much money [in it], then the secretary of the king and the officer of the chief priest came and emptied the chest, then they took it and returned it to its place. Thus they did day by day and gathered money in abundance. And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of Yahweh. And they hired stonemasons and skilled craftsmen to restore the house of Yahweh, and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of Yahweh. So those doing the work labored, and the restoration for the work made progress under their hand. And they restored the house of God to its position and strengthened it.

It happened in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent [word to] Shaphan the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the secretary of the temple of Yahweh, saying, "Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, and let them count the money being brought to the temple of Yahweh which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people, and let them give it into the hand of those appointed doers of the work at the temple of Yahweh. Let them give it to the doers of the work who [are] at the temple of Yahweh to repair the breach of the temple:read more.
to the skilled craftsmen, to the builders, to the masons, and to buy timber and hewing stones to repair the temple. Only the money being given to them is not to be accounted for by them, for they [are] dealing with honesty."

Now in the eighteenth year of his reign [after] he purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the commander of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of Yahweh his God. And they came to Hilkiah the high priest and gave the money that was brought for the house of God, which the Levites, the guardians of the threshold, had gathered from the hand of Manasseh, Ephraim, and from the whole remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they delivered [it] into the hand of the workmen who were appointed in the house of Yahweh, and they [in turn] gave it to those doing the work who [were] at work in the house of Yahweh, to repair [and] restore the house.read more.
And they dispensed [it] to the skilled craftsmen and the builders to buy stone [for] hewing and timber for the seams and for binding the houses that the kings of Judah had destroyed. And the men did the work faithfully. Over them as supervisors [were] appointed Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites from the Merarites, and Zechariah and Meshullam from the Kohathites. And [other] Levites, all who were skilled in instruments of song, [were] over the porters and were directing all who worked {on each task}. And some of the Levites [were] scribes, officials, and gatekeepers.

A breached city [where] there is no wall [is like] a man who {has no} self-control for his spirit.

For now I would lie down, and I would be at peace; I would be asleep; then {I would be at rest} with kings and counselors of [the] earth, who {rebuild} ruins for themselves,

"Because he has covered his face with his fat and has gathered fat upon [his] loins, {he will dwell} [in] desolate cities, in houses that they should not inhabit, which are destined for rubble.