³³ Then they fortified the city of David with a large strong wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel.^{(A) 34} They stationed there a sinful nation, men who were renegades. These strengthened their position;^{(B) 35} they stored up arms and food, and, collecting the spoils of Jerusalem, they stored them there and became a great menace,

³⁸ There they saw the sanctuary desolate, the altar profaned, and the gates burned. In the courts they saw bushes sprung up as in a thicket or as on one of the mountains. They saw also the chambers of the priests in ruins.^(A)