בָּנָה

When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You in the direction of this city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name,

…and when they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who took them captive, and when they pray in the direction of the land that You gave to their fathers, the city You have chosen, and the house I have built for Your Name,

Now at the end of the twenty years during which Solomon had built the house of the LORD and his own palace,

Solomon rebuilt the cities Hiram had given him and settled Israelites there.

He built Tadmor in the wilderness, in addition to all the store cities that he had built in Hamath.

He rebuilt Upper and Lower Beth-horon as fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars,

…as well as Baalath, all the store cities that belonged to Solomon, and all the cities for his chariots and horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout the land of his dominion.

Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her. For he said, “My wife must not live in the house of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the LORD has entered are holy.”

At that time Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD he had built in front of the portico.

When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, the palace he had built,

Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and he built up cities for defense in Judah.

He built up Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,

Because the land was at peace, Asa built fortified cities in Judah. In those days no one made war with him, because the LORD had given him rest.

So he said to the people of Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, with doors and bars. The land is still ours because we have sought the LORD our God. We have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.

In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah.

When Baasha learned of this, he stopped fortifying Ramah and abandoned his work.

Then King Asa brought all the men of Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timbers Baasha had used for building. And with these materials he built up Geba and Mizpah.

Jehoshaphat grew stronger and stronger, and he built fortresses and store cities in Judah

They have lived in the land and have built in it a sanctuary for Your Name, saying,

Uzziah was the one who rebuilt Eloth and restored it to Judah after King Amaziah rested with his fathers.

Uzziah went out to wage war against the Philistines, and he tore down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. Then he built cities near Ashdod and among the Philistines.

Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and the angle in the wall, and he fortified them.

Since he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain, he built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns. And since he was a lover of the soil, he had farmers and vinedressers in the hill country and in the fertile fields.

Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the house of the LORD, and he worked extensively on the wall at the hill of Ophel.

He also built cities in the hill country of Judah and fortresses and towers in the forests.

Then Hezekiah worked resolutely to rebuild all the broken sections of the wall and to raise up towers on it. He also built an outer wall and reinforced the supporting terraces of the City of David, and he produced an abundance of weapons and shields.

For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down, and he raised up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles. And he worshiped and served all the host of heaven.

Manasseh also built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever.”

In both courtyards of the house of the LORD, he built altars to all the host of heaven.

After this, Manasseh rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David from west of Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate, and he brought it around the hill of Ophel and heightened it considerably. He also stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.

He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, along with all the altars he had built on the temple mount and in Jerusalem, and he dumped them outside the city.

His prayer and how God received his plea, as well as all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself, they are indeed written in the Records of the Seers.

They also gave money to the carpenters and builders to buy dressed stone, as well as timbers for couplings and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had allowed to deteriorate.

To the Levites who taught all Israel and were holy to the LORD, Josiah said: “Put the holy ark in the temple built by Solomon son of David king of Israel. It is not to be carried around on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and His people Israel.

“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and may he go up.’”

“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah.

Whoever among you belongs to His people, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem.

So the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites—everyone whose spirit God had stirred—prepared to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.

Then Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests, along with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates, began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God.

When the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their positions to praise the LORD, as David king of Israel had prescribed.

When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the LORD, the God of Israel,

…they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the families, saying, “Let us build with you because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to Him since the time of King Esar-haddon of Assyria, who brought us here.”

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other heads of the families of Israel replied, “You have no part with us in building a house for our God, since we alone must build it for the LORD, the God of Israel, as Cyrus king of Persia has commanded us.”

Then the people of the land set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to build.