He loveth transgression that loveth strife, and he that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction.

Prepare thy work outside, and make ready the field for thyself; and afterwards build thine house.

Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

In mine ears said the LORD of hosts: "In truth many houses shall be desolate, even the great and fair, without inhabitant.

And all the people shall know--even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria" that say in the pride and stoutness of heart:

The king spoke and said, "Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?"

Whereas Edom saith, "We are impoverished, but we will return and rebuild the desolate places," thus saith the LORD of Hosts: "They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them the Border of Wickedness and the people against whom the LORD hath indignation forever.

For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

Lest it may happen, after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all who behold it begin to mock him,

that the king said unto Nathan the prophet, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains."

And the greater house he ceiled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold and set thereon palm trees and chains.

The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.

"Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceilinged houses, and this house lie waste?"