When ¹  Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, they did so, just as the Lord had commanded them – Aaron threw ²  down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants and it became a snake. ³ 

“You are also to make a large bronze ¹  basin with a bronze stand ²  for washing. You are to put it between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it, ³ 

and he is to purify ¹  the Most Holy Place, ²  he is to purify the Meeting Tent and the altar, ³  and he is to make atonement for ⁴  the priests and for all the people of the assembly.

“‘You ¹  must not deal unjustly in judgment: ²  you must neither show partiality to the poor nor honor the rich. ³  You must judge your fellow citizen fairly. ⁴ 

And they must stand as your towns of refuge from the avenger in order that the killer may not die until he has stood trial before the community.

Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the Lord’s shrine.

Year after year he used to travel the circuit of Bethel, ¹  Gilgal, and Mizpah; he used to judge Israel in all of these places.

So the king and all the members of his royal court ¹  set out on foot, though the king left behind ten concubines ²  to attend to the palace.

His royal court was so large because ¹  he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River from Tiphsah ²  to Gaza; he was at peace with all his neighbors. ³ 

The district governors acquired supplies for King Solomon and all who ate in his royal palace. ¹  Each was responsible for one month in the year; they made sure nothing was lacking.

He also made a throne room, called “The Hall of Judgment,” where he made judicial decisions. ¹  It was paneled with cedar from the floor to the rafters. ² 

Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward the sky. ¹ 

The royal bodyguard ¹  took their stations, each holding his weapon in his hand. They lined up from the south side of the temple to the north side and stood near the altar and the temple, surrounding the king. ² 

When they saw the chest was full of silver, the royal secretary ¹  and the high priest counted the silver that had been brought to the Lord’s temple and bagged it up. ² 

He also removed the Sabbath awning ¹  that had been built ²  in the temple and the king’s outer entranceway, on account of the king of Assyria. ³ 

He sent Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, ¹  clothed in sackcloth, with this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz:

In the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, the king sent the scribe Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the Lord’s temple with these orders: ¹ 

Hilkiah the high priest informed Shaphan the scribe, “I found the law scroll in the Lord’s temple.” Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it.

The king ordered Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s servant,

Joab son of Zeruiah started to count the men but did not finish. God was angry with Israel ¹  because of this, so the number was not recorded in the scroll ²  called The Annals of King David.