Early the next morning King Hezekiah assembled the city officials and went up to the Lord’s temple.

he consulted with his advisers and military officers about stopping up the springs outside the city, and they supported him.

In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in the ruins around them,

Now the city was spread out and large, and there were not a lot of people in it. At that time houses had not been rebuilt.

Joel son of Zicri was the officer in charge of them, and Judah son of Hassenuah was second-in-command over the city.

And the rest of the Israelites, with the priests and the Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, each on his own property.

So Hathach went to Mordecai at the plaza of the city in front of the king’s gate.

he lived in ruined towns and in houses where no one lives, where they are ready to crumble into heaps.

From the city the dying groan, and the wounded cry out for help, but God charges no one with wrongdoing.

The enemy’s cities have been reduced to permanent ruins; you destroyed their cities; all memory of the enemies has perished.

The Lord deserves praise for he demonstrated his amazing faithfulness to me when I was besieged by enemies.

The river’s channels bring joy to the city of God, the special, holy dwelling place of the sovereign One.

A song, a psalm by the Korahites. The Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise in the city of our God, his holy hill.

Confuse them, O Lord! Frustrate their plans! For I see violence and conflict in the city.

Who will lead me into the fortified city? Who will bring me to Edom?

For God will deliver Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah, and his people will again live in them and possess Zion.

Each morning I will destroy all the wicked people in the land, and remove all evildoers from the city of the Lord.

Who will lead me into the fortified city? Who will bring me to Edom?

Like a city that is broken down and without a wall, so is a person who cannot control his temper.

The toil of a stupid fool wears him out, because he does not even know the way to the city.