Migdal - Tower

(1) Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words. (2) And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. (3) They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them hard.”—Brick served them as stone, and bitumen served them as mortar.— (4) And they said, “Come, let us build us a city, and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for ourselves; else we shall be scattered all over the world.” (5) The Eternal came down to look at the city and tower that humanity had built, (6) and the Eternal said, “If, as one people with one language for all, this is how they have begun to act, then nothing that they may propose to do will be out of their reach. (7) Let us, then, go down and confound their speech there, so that they shall not understand one another’s speech.” (8) Thus the Eternal scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. (9) That is why it was called Babel [bavel], because there the Eternal confounded [balal] the speech of the whole earth; and from there the Eternal scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

(50) Abimelech proceeded to Tevetz; he encamped at Tevetz and occupied it. (51) Within the town was a fortified tower; and men and women took refuge there, including all the citizens of the town. They shut themselves in, and went up on the roof of the tower. (52) Abimelech pressed forward to the tower and attacked it. He approached the door of the tower to set it on fire. (53) But a woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head and cracked his skull. (54) He immediately cried out to his attendant, his arms-bearer, “Draw your dagger and finish me off, that they may not say of me, ‘A woman killed him!’” So his attendant stabbed him, and he died.

(1) The word that Isaiah son of Amoz prophesied concerning Judah and Jerusalem: (2) In the days to come, the mountain of the Eternal's House shall stand firm above the mountains and rise above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it. (3) And many peoples shall go and say:

“Come, Let us go up to the mountain of the Eternal, to the House of the God of Jacob; That we may be instructed in God’s ways, and that we may walk in God’s paths.” For Torah shall come forth from Zion, the word of the Eternal from Jerusalem.

(4) Then [God] will judge among the nations and arbitrate for the many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks: Nation shall not take up sword against nation; they shall never again know war.

(5) O House of Jacob! Come, let us walk by the light of the Eternal.

(6) For you have forsaken [the ways of] your people, O House of Jacob! For they are full [of practices] from the east, And of soothsaying like the Philistines; they abound in customs of the aliens. ...

(11) The haughty look of humans shall be brought low, And the pride of mortals shall be humbled. None but the Eternal shall be exalted in that day. (12) For the Eternal of Hosts has ready a day against all that is proud and arrogant, against all that is lofty, so that it is brought low: (13) Against all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and stately, and all the oaks of Bashan; (14) Against all the high mountains and all the lofty hills; (15) Against every soaring tower and every mighty wall; (16) Against all the ships of Tarshish and all the gallant boats. (17) Then human haughtiness shall be humbled And the pride of mortals brought low. None but the Eternal shall be exalted in that day. (18) As for idols, they shall vanish completely.

(4) Then every family shall sit under its own vine and fig tree with no one to disturb them. For it was the Eternal of Hosts who spoke. (5) Though all the peoples walk each in the names of its gods, we will walk in the name of the Eternal our God forever and ever. (6) On that day — declares the Eternal —I will assemble the lame and will gather the outcast, and those I have treated harshly; (7) And I will turn the lame into a remnant And the expellede into a populous nation. And the Eternal will reign over them on Mount Zion now and for evermore. (8) And you, O Migdal-Eder, outpost of Fair Zion, it shall come to you: the former monarchy shall return—the kingship of Fair Jerusalem.

(1) Let me sing for my beloved

A song of my lover about his vineyard.

My beloved had a vineyard on a fruitful hill.

(2) He broke the ground, cleared it of stones,

And planted it with choice vines.

He built a watchtower inside it,

And also hewed a wine press in it;

For he hoped it would yield grapes.

Instead, it yielded wild grapes.

(38) See, a time is coming—declares the Eternal —when the city shall be rebuilt for the Eternal from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate;

(50) For this I sing Your praise among the nations, Eternal, and hymn Your name: (51) God multiplies victories/Tower of victory to God's king and keeps faith with God's anointed, with David and his offspring forever.

(10) In Your temple, God, we meditate upon Your faithful care. (11) The praise of You, God, like Your name, reaches to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is filled with justice. (12) Let Mount Zion rejoice! Let the daughters of Judah [can also mean "the towns" outside Jerusalem] exult, because of Your judgments. (13) Walk around Zion, circle it; count its towers, (14) take note of its ramparts; go through its citadels, that you may recount it to a future age. (15) For this is God, our God forever; God will guide us evermore.

(2) Hear my cry, O God, heed my prayer. (3) From the end of the earth I call to You; when my heart is faint, You lead me to a rock that is high above me. (4) For You have been my refuge, a tower of strength against the enemy. (5) O that I might dwell in Your tent forever, take refuge under Your protecting wings. Selah.

(10) A tower of strength is the name of the Eternal; a righteous person runs to it and is safe.

(1) Ah, you are fair, my darling,

Ah, you are fair.

Your eyes are like doves

Behind your veil.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

Streaming down Mount Gilead.

(2) Your teeth are like a flock of ewes

Climbing up from the washing pool;

All of them bear twins,

And not one loses her young. (3) Your lips are like a crimson thread,

Your mouth is lovely.

Your brow behind your veil

Is like a pomegranate split open.

(4) Your neck is like the Tower of David, Built to hold weapons,

Hung with a thousand shields—

All the quivers of warriors.

(5) Your breasts are like two fawns,

Twins of a gazelle,

Browsing among the lilies.

(2) How lovely are your feet in sandals,

O daughter of nobles!

Your rounded thighs are like jewels,

The work of a master’s hand.

(3) Your navel is like a round goblet—

Let mixed wine not be lacking!—

Your belly like a heap of wheat

Hedged about with lilies.

(4) Your breasts are like two fawns,

Twins of a gazelle.

(5) Your neck is like a tower of ivory,

Your eyes like pools in Heshbon

By the gate of Bath-rabbim,

Your nose like the Lebanon tower

That faces toward Damascus.

(6) The head upon you is like crimson wool,

The locks of your head are like purple—

A king is held captive in the tresses.

(10) I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. So I have become in his eyes like one who finds peace. (11) Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon. He set guards in the vineyard: A person would give for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver. (12) My own vineyard is in front of me: You may have the thousand, O Solomon, and the guards of the fruit two hundred! (13) O you who linger in the garden, friends are listening for your voice -- Let me hear your voice. (14) "Hurry, my beloved, swift as a gazelle or a young stag, To the hills of spices!”

(1) Then Elyashiv the high priest and his fellow priests got busy and rebuilt the Sheep Gate; they consecrated it and set up its doors, consecrating it as far as the Hundred’s Tower, as far as the Tower of Hananel.

(72) The priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel took up residence in their towns. When the seventh month arrived—the Israelites being [settled] in their towns— (1) the entire people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the scroll of the Teaching of Moses with which the Eternal had charged Israel. (2) On the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Teaching before the congregation, men and women and all who could listen with understanding. (3) He read from it, facing the square before the Water Gate, from the first light until midday, to the men and the women and those who could understand; the ears of all the people were given to the scroll of the Teaching. (4) Ezra the scribe stood upon a wooden tower made for the purpose, and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah at his right, and at his left Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, Meshullam. (5) Ezra opened the scroll in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people; as he opened it, all the people stood up. (6) Ezra blessed the Eternal, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” with hands upraised. Then they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves before the Eternal with their faces to the ground.

(26) These were in the time of Joiakim son of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and in the time of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest, the scribe. (27) At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites, wherever they lived, were sought out and brought to Jerusalem to celebrate a joyful dedication with thanksgiving and with song, accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres. (28) The companies of singers assembled from the [Jordan] plain, the environs of Jerusalem, and from the Netophathite villages; (29) from Beth-hagilgal, from the countryside of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers built themselves villages in the environs of Jerusalem. (30) The priests and Levites purified themselves; then they purified the people, and the gates, and the wall. (31) I had the officers of Judah go up onto the wall, and I appointed two large thanksgiving [choirs] and processions. [One marched] south on the wall, to the Dung Gate; (32) behind them were Hoshaiah and half the officers of Judah, (33) and Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, (34) Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah, (35) and some of the young priests, with trumpets; Zechariah son of Jonathan son of Shemaiah son of Mattaniah son of Micaiah son of Zaccur son of Asaph, (36) and his brothers Shemaiah, and Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David, the man of God; and Ezra the scribe went ahead of them. (37) From there to the Fountain Gate, where they ascended the steps of the City of David directly before them, by the ascent on the wall, above the house of David, [and onward] to the Water Gate on the east. (38) The other thanksgiving [choir] marched on the wall in the opposite direction, with me and half the people behind it, above the Tower of Ovens to the Broad Wall; (39) and above the Gate of Ephraim, the Jeshanah Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate; and they halted at the Gate of the Prison Compound. (40) Both thanksgiving choirs halted at the House of God, and I and half the prefects with me.

(9) Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem on the Corner Gate and the Valley Gate and on the Angle, and fortified them. (10) He built towers in the wilderness and hewed out many cisterns, for he had much cattle, and farmers in the foothills and on the plain, and vine dressers in the mountains and on the fertile lands, for he was one who loved the earth.

(1) Then all the people of Judah took Uziyahu, who was sixteen years old, and proclaimed him king to succeed his father Amaziah. (2) (It was he who rebuilt Eloth and restored it to Judah after King [Amaziah] slept with his fathers.) (3) Uziyahu was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Yecholyah of Jerusalem. (4) He did what was pleasing to the Eternal just as his father Amaziah had done. (5) He applied himself to the worship of God during the time of Zechariah, instructor in the visions of God; during the time he worshiped the Eternal, God made him prosper. (6) He went forth to fight the Philistines, and breached the wall of Gath and the wall of Yavneh and the wall of Ashdod; he built towns in [the region of] Ashdod and among the Philistines. (7) God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabs who lived in Gur-baal, and the Meunites. (8) The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread to the approaches of Egypt, for he grew exceedingly strong. (9) Uziyahu built towers in Jerusalem on the Corner Gate and the Valley Gate and on the Angle, and fortified them. (10) He built towers in the wilderness and hewed out many cisterns, for he had much cattle, and farmers in the foothills and on the plain, and vine dressers in the mountains and on the fertile lands; for he was one who loved the soil.

(15) [King Uziyahu] made clever devices in Jerusalem, set on the towers and the corners, for shooting arrows and large stones. His fame spread far, for he was helped wonderfully, and he became strong. (16) When he was strong, he grew so arrogant he acted corruptly: he trespassed against his God by entering the Temple of the Eternal to offer incense on the incense altar. (17) The priest Azariah, with eighty other brave priests of the Eternal, followed him in (18) and, confronting King Uziyahu, said to him, “It is not for you, Uziyahu, to offer incense to the Eternal, but for the Aaronite priests, who have been consecrated, to offer incense. Get out of the Sanctuary, for you have trespassed; there will be no glory in it for you from the Eternal God.” (19) Uziyahu, holding the censer and ready to burn incense, got angry; but as he got angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in front of the priests in the House of the Eternal beside the incense altar. (20) When the chief priest Azariah and all the other priests looked at him, his forehead was leprous, so they rushed him out of there; he too made haste to get out, for the Eternal had struck him with a plague. (21) King Uziyahu was a leper until the day of his death. He lived in isolated quarters as a leper, for he was cut off from the House of the Eternal—while Jotham his son was in charge of the king’s house and governed the people of the land.

(1) Yotam was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Yerushah daughter of Tzadok. (2) He did what was pleasing to the Eternal just as his father Uziyahu had done, but he did not enter the Temple of the Eternal; however, the people still acted corruptly. (3) It was he who built the Upper Gate of the House of the Eternal; he also built extensively on the wall of Ophel. (4) He built towns in the hill country of Judah, and in the woods he built fortresses and towers.