Then you will know that I am the Lord – when their dead lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and all the mountaintops, under every green tree and every leafy oak, ¹  the places where they have offered fragrant incense to all their idols.

“‘When a person presents a grain offering ¹  to the Lord, his offering must consist of choice wheat flour, ²  and he must pour olive oil on it and put frankincense ³  on it.

You must put pure frankincense ¹  on each row, ²  and it will become a memorial portion ³  for the bread, a gift ⁴  to the Lord.

“‘If he cannot afford ¹  two turtledoves or two young pigeons, ²  he must bring as his offering for his sin which he has committed ³  a tenth of an ephah ⁴  of choice wheat flour ⁵  for a sin offering. He must not place olive oil on it and he must not put frankincense on it, because it is a sin offering.

and the priest ¹  must take up with his hand some of the choice wheat flour of the grain offering ²  and some of its olive oil, and all of the frankincense that is on the grain offering, and he must offer its memorial portion ³  up in smoke on the altar ⁴  as a soothing aroma to the Lord. ⁵ 

Do this, Korah, you and all your company: ¹  Take censers,

(But some of the priests mixed the spices.)

I will do so because these people ¹  have rejected me and have defiled ²  this place. They have offered sacrifices in it to other gods which neither they nor their ancestors ³  nor the kings of Judah knew anything about. They have filled it with the blood of innocent children. ⁴ 

The women added, ¹  “We did indeed sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven. But it was with the full knowledge and approval of our husbands that we made cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her.” ² 

The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, ‘You women ¹  have confirmed by your actions what you vowed with your lips! You said, “We will certainly carry out our vows to sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.” Well, then fulfill your vows! Carry them out!’ ² 

Instead we will do everything we vowed we would do. ¹  We will sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the goddess called the Queen of Heaven ²  just as we and our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders previously did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and had no troubles. ³ 

“You are to put it in front of the curtain that is before the ark of the testimony (before the atonement lid that is over the testimony), where I will meet you.

He made the vessels which were on the table out of pure gold, its ¹  plates, its ladles, its pitchers, and its bowls, to be used in pouring out offerings.

“Tell ¹  Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to pick up ²  the censers out of the flame, for they are holy, and then scatter the coals of fire ³  at a distance.

So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers presented by those who had been burned up, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar.

the pure gold trimming shears, basins, pans, and censers, and the gold door sockets for the inner sanctuary (the most holy place) and for the doors of the main hall of the temple.

The captain of the royal guard took the gold and silver bowls, censers, ¹  basins, pots, lampstands, pans, and vessels. ² 

As for my food that I gave you – the fine flour, olive oil, and honey I fed you – you placed it before them as a soothing aroma. That is exactly what happened, declares the sovereign Lord.

Then he must bring it to the sons of Aaron, the priests, and the priest ¹  must scoop out from there a handful of its choice wheat flour and some of its olive oil in addition to all of its frankincense, and the priest must offer its memorial portion ²  up in smoke on the altar – it is ³  a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord.

Of course, who can really build a temple for him, since the sky ¹  and the highest heavens cannot contain him? Who am I that I should build him a temple! It will really be only a place to offer sacrifices before him. ²