So this is what the Lord God says: “An enemy will take over the land and pull down your strongholds; he will take the treasures out of your strong buildings.”
Pul king of Assyria came to attack the land. Menahem gave him about seventy-four thousand pounds of silver so Pul would support him and make his hold on the kingdom stronger.
Tiglath-Pileser was king of Assyria. He attacked while Pekah was king of Israel, capturing the cities of Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, and Hazor. He also captured Gilead and Galilee and all the land of Naphtali and carried the people away to Assyria.
Nebuchadnezzar and his army set fire to God’s Temple and broke down Jerusalem’s wall and burned all the palaces. They took or destroyed every valuable thing in Jerusalem.
I will tear down the winter house, together with the summer house. The houses decorated with ivory will be destroyed, and the great houses will come to an end,” says the Lord.
The Lord God All-Powerful says, “Israel, I will bring a nation against you that will make your people suffer from Lebo Hamath in the north to the valley south of the Dead Sea.”
The Lord God made this promise; the Lord God All-Powerful says: “I hate the pride of the Israelites, and I hate their strong buildings, so I will let the enemy take the city and everything in it.”