If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, ¹  their loyalty could shift to their former master, ²  King Rehoboam of Judah. They might kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah.”

Naaman said, “If not, then please give your servant a load of dirt, enough for a pair of mules to carry, ¹  for your servant will never again offer a burnt offering or sacrifice to a god other than the Lord. ² 

Now I will triumph over my enemies who surround me! ¹  I will offer sacrifices in his dwelling place and shout for joy! ²  I will sing praises to the Lord!

You did not buy me aromatic reeds; ¹  you did not present to me ²  the fat of your sacrifices. Yet you burdened me with your sins; you made me weary with your evil deeds. ³ 

The four tables for the burnt offering were of carved stone, 32 inches ¹  long, 32 inches ²  wide, and 21 inches ³  high. They would put the instruments which they used to slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice on them.

Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, ¹  by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God ²  – which is your reasonable service.

Everyone shares the same fate ¹  – the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, ²  the ceremonially clean and unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. What happens to the good person, also happens to the sinner; ³  what happens to those who make vows, also happens to those who are afraid to make vows.

“Whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you took no delight in.

Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

But the high places were not eliminated; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense on the high places.

“I have ¹  fresh meat at home; ²  today I have fulfilled my vows!

Even now they persist in sin! ¹  They make metal images for themselves, idols that they skillfully fashion ²  from their own silver; all of them are nothing but the work of craftsmen! There is a saying about them: ³  “Those who sacrifice ⁴  to the calf idol are calf kissers!” ⁵ 

For when you offer blind animals as a sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer the lame and sick, ¹  is that not wrong as well? Indeed, try offering them ²  to your governor! Will he be pleased with you ³  or show you favor?” asks the Lord who rules over all.

“‘Then the Nazirite must shave his consecrated head ¹  at the entrance to the tent of meeting and must take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire ²  where the peace offering is burning. ³ 

At the time of the evening offering I got up from my self-abasement, ¹  with my tunic and robe torn, and then dropped to my knees and spread my hands to the Lord my God.

Yet they will be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple, and serving the temple. They will slaughter the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them.

“‘If his offering for a peace offering sacrifice to the Lord is from the flock, he must present a flawless male or female. ¹ 

The meat of his ¹  thanksgiving peace offering must be eaten on the day of his offering; he must not set any of it aside until morning.

This is the law ¹  for the burnt offering, the grain offering, ²  the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering, ³  and the peace offering sacrifice,

Throughout the afternoon they were in an ecstatic frenzy, ¹  but there was no sound, no answer, and no response. ²