³ I said to the king, “^(A)Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad ^(B)when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?”

¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation we are in, that ^(A)Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach.”