63 Bible Verses about Ruins

And if you will not for all of this listen to Me, but will walk contrary to Me, then I will walk contrary to you also in fury. And I, even I, will chastise 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 cut down your images, and throw your carcasses on the carcasses of your idols, and My soul shall despise you. And I will make your cities waste and cause your sanctuaries to be deserted. And I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors. And I will turn the land into wasteland. And your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the nations, and will draw out a sword after you. And your land shall be waste, and your cities waste.

And you shall gather all its spoil into the middle of its street, and shall burn the city with fire, and all its spoil, every bit of it, for Jehovah your God. And it shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again.

Jehovah shall bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies; a nation whose tongue you shall not understand, a nation fierce of face who shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young. And he shall eat the fruit of your cattle and the fruit of your land, until you are destroyed. He shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your livestock, or flocks of your sheep, until he has destroyed you.read more.
And he shall besiege you in all your gates until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down, throughout all the land. And he shall besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land which Jehovah your God has given you.

And I will make Jerusalem ruins, a den of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without a living soul.

And I will make Samaria into ruins of the field, planting places for a vineyard; and I will pour down her stones into the valley, and I will uncover her foundations. And all her graven images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her gifts shall be burned with the fire, and I will destroy all its idols. For she gathered it from the reward of a harlot, and they shall return to the reward of a harlot.

And now I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard; I will take away its hedge, and it shall be eaten up; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down; and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor dug; but briers and thorns shall come up. And I will command the clouds that they rain no rain on it. For the vineyard of Jehovah of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant; and He looked for justice, but behold bloody iniquity; for righteousness, but behold a cry!

Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land laid waste, a desolation, and until Jehovah has moved men far away, and the desolation in the midst of the land is great. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return and be consumed like the terebinth and like the oak being felled, yet has its stump; the holy seed is its stump.

The lion has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the nations has set out; he has left his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will fall into ruins without inhabitant.

But if you will not hear these Words, I swear by Myself, says Jehovah, that this house shall become a ruin.

In all the places where you live, cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be deserted; so that your altars may be laid waste and become guilty, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your pillars may be cut down, and your works wiped out. And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and you shall know that I am Jehovah.

Ruin, ruin, ruin, I will appoint it. Also this shall not be until the coming of Him whose is the right. And I will give it to Him.

Hear and testify in the house of Jacob, says the Lord Jehovah, the God of Hosts, for in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel on him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel. And the horns of the altar shall be cut off and shall fall to the ground. And I will strike the winter house together with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish. And the great houses shall be swept away, says Jehovah.

And the high places of Isaac shall be wasted, and the holy places of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

And in the fifth month, on the seventh of the month; it was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. And he burned the house of Jehovah, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. And every great one's house he burned with fire. And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the chief of the executioners broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around.read more.
And the rest of the people who were left in the city, and the fugitives who fell away to the king of Babylon, with the rest of the multitude, the chief of the executioners carried away. But the chief of the executioners left a few of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen. And the bronze pillars in the house of Jehovah, and the bases, and the bronze sea in the house of Jehovah, the Chaldeans broke into pieces and carried the bronze from them to Babylon. And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered, they also took away. And the chief of the executioners took away the fire-pans, and the bowls, that were all of gold, and all of silver;

And He caused the king of the Chaldeans to go up against them. And he killed their choice ones by the sword in the house of their holy place, and had no pity on the young man and the virgin, the old man and the very aged; He gave all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king, and of his rulers, he brought all these to Babylon. And they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces of it with fire, and destroyed all its beautiful vessels.

And the Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of the people, with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. Then Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners exiled to Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to him with the rest of the people that remained. But Nebuzaradan, the chief of the executioners, left some of the poor people, who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields on that day.

And in the fifth month, in the tenth of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, chief of the executioners, who served the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. And he burned the house of Jehovah, and the king's house. And he burned with fire all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great ones. And all the army of the Chaldeans with the chief of the executioners broke down all Jerusalem's walls all around.read more.
And Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners exiled some of the poor of the people, and the rest of the people who remained in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. But Nebuzaradan the chief of the executioners left some of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for farmers. Also the Chaldeans broke the pillars of bronze that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases, and the bronze sea in the house of Jehovah, and carried all the bronze of them to Babylon. They also took away the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they served. And the chief of the executioners took away the basins, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the spoons, and the cups; what was gold, in gold; and what was silver, in silver.

You have turned away from the covenant of Your servant; You have defiled his crown to the ground. You have broken down all his hedges; You have brought his strongholds to ruin. All who pass by the way plunder him; he is a curse to his neighbors.

Lift up Your feet to the never-ending ruins, even all that the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary.

Why have You broken down its hedges, so that all those who pass by the way pluck it? The boar out of the wood wastes it, and the wild beast of the field eats it. Return, we beg You, O God of Hosts; look down from Heaven, and behold, and visit this vine,read more.
and the vineyard which Your right hand has planted, and the Son that You make strong for Yourself. It is burned with fire, and cut down; they perish at the rebuke of Your holy face.

But now, O Jehovah, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our Former; and we all are the work of Your hand. Do not be grievously angry, O Jehovah, nor remember iniquity forever. Behold! Look, please; all of us are Your people. Your holy cities are a wilderness; Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem is a ruin.read more.
The house of our holiness and our beauty, where our fathers praised You, has become a burning of fire; and all our pleasant things are laid waste. Will You restrain Yourself over these things, O Jehovah? Will You be silent and sorely afflict us?

Jehovah was like an enemy; He swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all her palaces, and destroyed His strongholds. And He has increased mourning and weeping in the daughter of Judah. And He violated His booth like a garden, and destroyed His meeting places. Jehovah caused the meeting places and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and He despised the king and the priest in the fury of His anger. Jehovah has cast off His altar; He rejected His sanctuary; He has given up the walls of her palaces into the hater's hand. They gave a noise in the house of Jehovah, as a day of meeting.read more.
Jehovah purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; He has stretched out a line; He has not withdrawn His hand from swallowing, and He made rampart and wall lament; they languish together. Her gates have sunk in the ground; He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her kings and her rulers are among the nations. The Law is no more; also her prophets also find no vision from Jehovah.

So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah. And, behold, today they are a ruin, and no one lives there because of their evil which they have committed to provoke Me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, to serve other gods whom they knew not, they, you, nor your fathers. But I sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending, saying, Oh, do not do this abominable thing which I hate!read more.
But they did not listen, nor bow down their ear to turn from their evil, to burn no incense to other gods. Therefore My fury and My anger was poured out, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And they are wasted, deserted as at this day.

And the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Son of man, those who live in those wastes of the land of Israel are speaking, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land. But we are many; the land is given to us for inheritance. So say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood; and shall you possess the land?read more.
You stand on your sword, you work abomination, each defiling his neighbor's wife. And shall you possess the land? Speak to them in this way, So says the Lord Jehovah: As I live, surely those who are in the ruins shall fall by the sword, and I will give him who is in the open field to the beasts to be eaten up, and those in the forts and in the caves shall die of the plague. For I have made the land a ruin, and the pride of her strength has ceased. And the mountains of Israel shall be a waste, so that none shall pass through. And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have made the land a ruin because of all their abominations which they have committed.

For Jehovah shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

And they will build the old wastes, they will raise up the ruins of former times. And they will repair the waste cities, the ruins of many generations.

So says Jehovah, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb, I am Jehovah who makes all things; who stretches out the heavens alone; who spreads out the earth; who was with Me? who brings to nothing the signs of the liars, and makes diviners mad; who turns the wise backward, and makes their knowledge foolish; who makes the word of His servant sure, and makes good the counsel of His messengers; who says to Jerusalem, She shall have people; and to the cities of Judah, You shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places of it;

And those who come of you shall build the old ruins; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

So says Jehovah: Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and will have mercy on his dwelling places. And the city shall be built on her own hill, and the palace shall remain in its own place. And out of them shall come thanksgiving, and the voice of those who rejoice. And I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.

Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of animal. And it shall be, as I have watched over them to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so I will watch over them to build, and to plant, says Jehovah.

But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall put out your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel; for they have drawn near to come. For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. And I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, all of it. And the cities shall have people, and the wastes shall be built.read more.
And I will multiply men and beast on you, and they shall increase and be fruitful. And I will make you dwell as before, and I will do better to you than at your beginnings. And you shall know that I am Jehovah. Yea, I will cause men to walk on you, even My people Israel. And they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and not any more will increase their bereavement.

In that day I will raise up the booth of David that has fallen, and close up its breaks; and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; so that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the nations on whom My name is called, says Jehovah who is doing this.

And when the seventh month had come, and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves as one man to Jerusalem. And Jeshua the son of Jozadak stood up, and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brothers. And they 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. And they set the altar on its bases, for fear was on them because of the people of those countries. And they offered burnt offerings on it to Jehovah, burnt offerings both morning and evening.read more.
And they kept the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required. And afterward they offered the continual burnt offering, both of the new moons and of all the set feasts of Jehovah that were set apart, and of everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to Jehovah. From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to Jehovah. But the foundation of the temple of Jehovah was not laid. They gave silver also to the masons and to the carpenters. And they gave meat and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and to the people of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant which they had from Cyrus king of Persia. And in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all they who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began. And they chose the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of Jehovah. And Jeshua stood up together with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, to set forward the workmen in the house of God the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brothers the Levites. And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of Jehovah, they set the priests in their robes with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise Jehovah, according to David king of Israel. And they sang, praising and giving thanks to Jehovah, because He is good, for His mercy endures forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised Jehovah, because the foundation of the house of Jehovah was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, ancient men who had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice. And many shouted aloud for joy so that the people could not tell the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people. For the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

And they said to me, The remnant left of the captivity there in the province is in great affliction and shame. And the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire. And it happened when I heard these words, I sat down and wept. And I mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of Heaven.

And I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me. And I did not tell to a man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem. And there was no animal with me, except the animal that I rode upon. And I went out by night by the Valley Gate, even before the Jackal Fountain, and to the Dung Gate, and looked at the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down, and its gates which were burned with fire.read more.
And I went on to the Fountain Gate, and to the King's Pool. But there was no place for the animal that was under me to pass. And I went up in the night by the brook and looked at the wall, and turned back, and entered by the Valley Gate, and returned. And the rulers did not know where I had gone, nor what I was doing. Nor had I told the Jews as yet, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work. And I said to them, You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem is wasted, and the gates of it are burned with fire. Come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no more be a reproach. And I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me, and also the king's words that he had spoken to me. And they said, Let us rise up to build. So they made their hands strong for good. But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us. And they said, What is this that you do? Will you rebel against the king? And I answered them and said to them, The God of Heaven, He will bless us, and we, His servants, will arise and build. But you have no portion or right or memorial in Jerusalem.

In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the Word of Jehovah came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high Priest, saying, So says Jehovah of Hosts, saying: This people says, The time has not come, the time that Jehovah's house should be built. Then came the Word of Jehovah by Haggai the prophet, saying,read more.
Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your finished houses, and shall this House lie waste? And now so says Jehovah of Hosts: Set your heart on your ways; you have sown much and bring in little; you eat, but you do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you dress, but no one is warm; and he who hires out himself hires himself for a bag full of holes. So says Jehovah of Hosts: Set your heart on your ways. Go up the mountain and bring wood, and build this House; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, says Jehovah. You looked for much, and behold, little! And when you brought it home, then I blew on it. Why, says Jehovah of Hosts? Because of My House that is waste, and you, each man runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have held back the dew, and the earth is held back from her produce. And I called for a drought in the land, and on the mountains, and on the grain, and on the new wine, and on the oil, and on that which the ground brings forth, and on men, and on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of Jehovah their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as Jehovah their God had sent him. And the people feared before Jehovah. Then Haggai, Jehovah's messenger, spoke the message of Jehovah to the people, saying, I am with you, says Jehovah. And Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of Jehovah of Hosts, their God, in the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

And it shall be that all those who look upon you shall flee from you, and say, Nineveh is laid waste; who will weep for her? From where shall I seek comforters for you?

And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desert and dry like a desert. And flocks shall lie down in her midst, all the beasts of a nation; both the pelican and the bittern shall roost in the capitals of its pillars; a voice shall sing at the window, ruin shall be at the doorsill, for he will bare the cedar-work. This is the rejoicing city, dwelling confidently, who says in her heart, I am, and no other still is. How she has become a ruin, a resting-place for animals! Everyone who passes by her shall hiss; he shall wag his hand.

And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the majestic beauty of the Chaldees, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited forever, nor shall it be lived in from generation to generation; nor shall the Arabian pitch his tent there; nor shall the shepherds make their flocks lie down there. But the wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of howling creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, and he-goats shall dance there.read more.
And hyenas shall cry along with his widows, and jackals in palaces of delight. Yea, her time is coming near, and her days shall not be prolonged.

Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This people did not exist. Assyria founded it for those who live in the desert. They set up their siege-towers; they stripped its palaces. They made it a ruin.

And Babylon shall become heaps, a home for jackals, a horror and a hissing, without an inhabitant.

And the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it. And say to it, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against you, and I will stretch out My hand against you, and I will make you a ruin and a waste.read more.
I will raze your cities, and you shall be ruined, and you shall know that I am Jehovah.

I have loved you, says Jehovah. But you say, In what have You loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? says Jehovah; yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau and made his mountains a desolation, and his inheritance to be for the jackals of the wilderness. If Edom says, We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places. So says Jehovah of Hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them the region of wickedness, and the people with whom Jehovah is indignant forever.

O daughter dwelling in Egypt, get ready to go into captivity. For Noph shall be waste and a desert without inhabitant.

So the Lord Jehovah says this: Behold, I will bring a sword on you, and cut off man and beast from you. And the land of Egypt shall be a desert and waste; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, because he has said, The river is mine, and I have made it. Behold, and therefore I am against you and against your rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt a complete waste, a ruin, from Migdol to Syene, even to the border of Ethiopia.read more.
No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, and you shall not live in it forty years. And I will make the land of Egypt a ruin in the midst of the ruined lands; and her cities shall be deserted forty years among the cities that are laid waste. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will scatter them through the lands.

So says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, against Moab: Woe to Nebo, for it is ravaged! Kiriathaim is shamed and captured. The Fortress is shamed and razed.

For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a ruin. They shall drive out Ashdod at the noonday, and Ekron shall be rooted up. Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The Word of Jehovah is against you: Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will destroy you, so that no inhabitant survives. And the sea coast will be pastures, meadows of shepherds, and folds for flocks.

So the Lord Jehovah says this: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers. I will also scrape her dust from her and make her like a shining rock.

And it happened, when Israel had made an end of killing all those who lived in Ai, in the field and in the wilderness where they chased them, and when they had all fallen on the edge of the sword until they were gone, all the Israelites returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. And all who fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, all the men of Ai. For Joshua did not draw his hand back, with which he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the people of Ai.read more.
Only, Israel took the cattle and the spoil of that city for a prize for themselves, according to the Word of Jehovah which He commanded Joshua. And Joshua burned Ai, and made it a heap forever, a ruin to this day. And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his body down from the tree and throw it down at the entrance to the gate of the city, and raise on it a great heap of stones, to this day.

And it happened after the year had ended, at the time kings go forth, Joab led out the power of the army and wasted the country of the sons of Ammon. And he came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. And Joab struck Rabbah and destroyed it.

For a nation has come up on My land, strong and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the jaw teeth of a lioness. He has laid My vine waste and splintered My fig tree. He has stripped it and cast it away; its branches grow white. Weep like a virgin clothed with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.read more.
The food offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah; the priests, Jehovah's ministers, mourn. The field is wasted; the land mourns, for the grain is wasted. The new wine is dried up; the oil tree droops. Be ashamed, husbandmen; howl, vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field has perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree droops, the pomegranate and the palm tree, and the apple tree; all the trees of the field are dried up, because joy has dried up from the sons of men.

Behold, Jehovah empties the land and makes it bare, and distorts its face, and scatters its inhabitants. And as it is with the people, so it shall be with the priest; as with the servant, so with the master; as with the handmaid, so it is 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 debtor. The land shall be completely emptied, and utterly stripped; for Jehovah has spoken this Word.read more.
The earth mourns and languishes; the world droops and languishes; the proud people of the earth droop. And the land is defiled under its people; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, and have broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and they who dwell in it are deserted; therefore the people of the earth are burned, and few men left. The new wine mourns, the vine droops, all the merry-hearted sigh. The gladness of tambourines ceases, the noise of those who rejoice ends; the joy of the harp ceases. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to those who drink it. The city of shame is broken down; every house is shut up so that no one may come in. A crying for wine is in the streets; all joy is darkened, the gladness in the land has gone. In the city is left desolation, and the gate is stricken with ruin. For so it is in the midst of the land among the people, it shall be like the shaking of an olive tree and as gleanings when the grape harvest is completed.

By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in pieces, the Asherahs and sun-pillars shall not stand up. Yet the fortified city shall be wasted, and the dwelling forsaken and left like a wilderness; there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down and eat up its branches.

And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air. And a great voice came out of the temple of Heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done! And voices and thunders and lightnings occurred. And there was a great earthquake, such as has not been since men were on the earth, so mighty and so great an earthquake. And the great city came to be into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the anger of His wrath.read more.
And every island fled away, and mountains were not found. And a great hail, as the size of a talent, came down out of the heaven on men. And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague of it was exceedingly great.

And one strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, So on an impulse the great city, Babylon, will be thrown down and not at all will be found any more. And the voice of harpers, and of musicians. and flutists, and of trumpeters will be heard no more at all in you. And every craftsman of any craft will not be found any more in you. And the sound of a mill will never more be heard at all in you. And the light of a lamp will never more shine at all in you. And the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will never more be heard at all in you. For your merchants were the great ones of the earth; for by your sorceries all nations were deceived.

And Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me. And all the people came near him. And he repaired the broken down altar of Jehovah.

And in the seventh year of Jehu, Joash began to reign. And he reigned in Jerusalem forty years. And his mother's name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. And Joash did the right in the sight of Jehovah all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him. But the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.read more.
And Joash said to the priests, All the silver from things dedicated to God, which is brought into the house of Jehovah, the silver from each man the silver of his valuation, all the silver that comes into any man's heart to bring to the house of Jehovah, let the priests take it to themselves, each man from those he knows. And let them repair the breaks in the house, in all places where any break shall be found. And it happened in the twenty-third year of King Joash, the priests had not repaired the breaks of the house. Then King Joash called for Jehoiada the priest, and the priests, and said to them, Why are you not repairing the breaks of the house? And now take no silver from those you know, but deliver it for the breaks of the house. And the priests agreed to take no silver from the people, nor to repair the breaks of the house. But Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid. And he set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of Jehovah. And the priests who kept the door put in it all the silver brought into the house of Jehovah. And it happened when they saw that much silver was in the chest, the king's scribe and the high priest came up. And they bound and counted the silver that was found in the house of Jehovah. And they gave the silver which was counted into the hands of those who did the work, those overseeing the house of Jehovah. And they laid it out to the carpenters and builders who worked on the house of Jehovah, and to masons and cutters of stone, and to buy timber and cut stone to repair the breaks of the house of Jehovah, and for all that went forth for the house, to repair it.

And it happened after this, it had been in the mind of Joash to repair the house of Jehovah. And he gathered together the priests and the Levites and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather silver from all Israel to repair the house of your God from year to year. And see that you hasten the matter. And the Levites did not hasten it. And the king called for Jehoiada and said to him, Why have you not made the Levites bring in the collection out of Judah and out of Jerusalem, according to Moses the servant of Jehovah, and of the congregation of Israel, for the tabernacle of witness?read more.
For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, have broken up the house of God. And also all the dedicated things of the house of Jehovah they have given to Baals. And the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of the house of Jehovah. And they gave a call in Judah and in Jerusalem, to bring in to Jehovah the collection that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness. And all the rulers and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and threw into the chest until it was finished. And it happened at the time the chest was brought into the king's office by the Levites, and when they saw that the silver was abundant, the king's scribe and the high priest's officer came and emptied the chest, and took it and carried it to its place again. So they did day by day, and gathered a great amount of silver. And the king and Jehoiada gave it to those who did the work of the service of the house of Jehovah. And they hired masons and carpenters to repair the house of Jehovah, and also artisans in iron and bronze, to mend the house of Jehovah. And the workmen worked, and the work was completed by them, and they set the house of God in its proper state and made it strong.

And it happened in the eighteenth year of Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam the scribe, to the house of Jehovah, saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, so that he may count the silver which is brought into the house of Jehovah, which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people. And let them deliver it into the hand of the workers who have the oversight of the house of Jehovah. And let them give it to the workers who are in the house of Jehovah, in order to repair the breaks of the house,read more.
to carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and cut stone to repair the house. Only, the silver that is given into their hand shall not be reckoned with them, for they are dealing in faithfulness.

And in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of Jehovah his God. And they came to Hilkiah the high priest, and they delivered the silver that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites that kept the doors had gathered from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of Israel, and from all Judah and Benjamin, and they returned to Jerusalem. And they put it in the hands of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of Jehovah. And they gave it to the workmen who worked in the house of Jehovah, to repair and mend the house.read more.
They gave to the artisans and builders, to buy cut stone and timber for joints, and beams to build up the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. And the men did the work faithfully. And the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, and of the Levites, all who were skillful with instruments of music; and over the bearers of burdens, and overseers of all who worked the work in any manner of service. And of the Levites were scribes and officers and gatekeepers.

He who has no rule over his own spirit is like a broken down city without a wall.

For now I should have lain still and been quiet; I should have slept. Then I would have been at rest with kings and wise men of the earth, who built ruins for themselves,

because he has covered his face with fat; he has put fat on his loins. And he lives in cut off cities, in houses where none are living, which are ready to become heaps.