43. So they said to one another, “Let us raise our people from their ruin and fight for them and for our sanctuary!”
44. The assembly gathered together to prepare for battle and to pray and ask for mercy and compassion.
45. Jerusalem was uninhabited, like a wilderness;not one of her children came in or went out.The sanctuary was trampled on,and foreigners were in the citadel;it was a habitation for Gentiles.Joy had disappeared from Jacob,and the flute and the harp were silent.
46. Thus they assembled and went to Mizpah near Jerusalem, because formerly at Mizpah there was a place of prayer for Israel.