<t /><p class="bodytext">So I came to Jerusalem.<n id="1" /> When I had been there for three days,

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

When I catch up with<n id="1" /> him he will be exhausted and worn out.<n id="2" /> I will rout him, and the entire army that is with him will flee. I will kill only the king

Then I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, and I presented to them the letters from the king. The king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.

and I returned to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah by supplying him with a storeroom in the courts of the temple of God.

So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure<n id="1" /> of creeping thing and beast &#8211; detestable images<n id="2" /> &#8211; and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;With my many chariots I climbed upp> <p class="poetry">the high mountains,p> <p class="poetry">the slopes of Lebanon.p> <p class="poetry">I cut down its tall cedarsp> <p class="poetry">and its best evergreens.p> <p class="poetry">I invaded its most remote regions,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">its thickest woods.p>

I came to the exiles at Tel Abib,<n id="1" /> who lived by the Kebar River.<n id="2" /> I sat dumbfounded among them there, where they were living, for seven days.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;Then I passed by you and watched you, noticing<n id="1" /> that you had reached the age for love.<n id="2" /> I spread my cloak<n id="3" /> over you and covered your nakedness. I swore a solemn oath to you and entered into a marriage covenant with you, declares the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>, and you became mine.p>