He who loves transgression loves strife, And he who exalts his gate seeks destruction.

Prepare your outside work, Make it fit for yourself in the field; And afterward build your house.

Woe to those who join house to house; They add field to field, Till [there is] no place Where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land!

In my hearing the LORD of hosts [said,] "Truly, many houses shall be desolate, Great and beautiful ones, without inhabitant.

All the people will know -- Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria -- Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:

The king spoke, saying, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?"

Even though Edom has said, "We have been impoverished, But we will return and build the desolate places," Thus says the LORD of hosts: "They may build, but I will throw down; They shall be called the Territory of Wickedness, And the people against whom the LORD will have indignation forever.

"For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has [enough] to finish [it -- ]

"lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see [it] begin to mock him,

that the king said to Nathan the prophet, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside tent curtains."

The larger room he paneled with cypress which he overlaid with fine gold, and he carved palm trees and chainwork on it.

The beams of our houses [are] cedar, [And] our rafters of fir.

"[Is it] time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple [to lie] in ruins?"