a. Concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been pulled down to fortify: God spoke this with an eye to the houses in Jerusalem that were now rubble, having been dismantled to make defensive works against the attacking Babylonians. This was a distressing and depressing sight—but didn’t take away the truth of God’s promise to restore. b. They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but only to fill their places with the dead