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

Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; 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, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even 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 spake, 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 honour of my majesty?

Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build 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 for ever.

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 haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

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

And the greater house he cieled 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 cieled houses, and this house lie waste?