King Huram of Tyre sent this letter to Solomon: “Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you their king.”

They taught throughout Judah, taking with them the scroll of the law of the Lord. They traveled to all the cities of Judah and taught the people.

Now I intend to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, so that he may relent from his raging anger.

I continued up the valley during the night, inspecting the wall. Then I turned back and came to the Valley Gate, and so returned.

On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust.

Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod (or the language of one of the other peoples mentioned) and were unable to speak the language of Judah.

For they do not speak the truth; their stomachs are like the place of destruction, their throats like an open grave, their tongues like a steep slope leading into it.

Accomplish awesome, faithful deeds, you who powerfully deliver those who look to you for protection from their enemies.

O Lord, do not let me be humiliated, for I call out to you! May evil men be humiliated! May they go wailing to the grave!

But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered together; they gathered together to ambush me. They tore at me without stopping to rest.

For look, they wait to ambush me; powerful men stalk me, but not because I have rebelled or sinned, O Lord.

He drove the nations out from before them; he assigned them their tribal allotments and allowed the tribes of Israel to settle down.

How blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! They will not be put to shame when they confront enemies at the city gate.

for it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,” than to put you lower before a prince, whom your eyes have seen.

I thought to myself, “Come now, I will try self-indulgent pleasure to see if it is worthwhile.” But I found that it also is futile.

Your land is devastated, your cities burned with fire. Right before your eyes your crops are being destroyed by foreign invaders. They leave behind devastation and destruction.

The Lord told me, “Take a large tablet and inscribe these words on it with an ordinary stylus: ‘Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.’

They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain. For there will be universal submission to the Lord’s sovereignty, just as the waters completely cover the sea.

When the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and anxiety, and from the hard labor which you were made to perform,

The time is coming when Jacob will take root; Israel will blossom and grow branches. The produce will fill the surface of the world.