This was the order in which they carried out their assigned responsibilities when they entered the Lord’s temple, according to the regulations given them by their ancestor ¹  Aaron, just as the Lord God of Israel had instructed him. ² 

Ephraim’s leader is Samaria, and Samaria’s leader is the son of Remaliah. If your faith does not remain firm, then you will not remain secure.” ¹ 

Do not be carried away by all sorts of strange teachings. ¹  For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not ritual meals, ²  which have never benefited those who participated in them.

You must investigate thoroughly and inquire carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing is being done among you, ¹ 

and some of the temple servants that David and his officials had established for the work of the Levites – 220 of them. They were all designated by name.

So I purified them of everything foreign, and I assigned specific ¹  duties to the priests and the Levites.

When I look up at the heavens, which your fingers made, and see the moon and the stars, which you set in place, ¹ 

O Lord, in your good favor you made me secure. ¹  Then you rejected me ²  and I was terrified.

How will they respond to the messengers of this nation? ¹  Indeed, the Lord has made Zion secure; the oppressed among his people will find safety in her.

But ¹  now Jesus ²  has obtained a superior ministry, since ³  the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted ⁴  on better promises. ⁵ 

And because the midwives feared God, he made ¹  households ²  for them.

A ruler will be established from Jacob; he will destroy the remains of the city.’” ¹ 

Remember ¹  continually his covenantal decree, the promise he made ²  to a thousand generations –

King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem; ¹  he ²  was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. ³  Rehoboam’s ⁴  mother was an Ammonite named Naamah.

Jotham grew powerful because he was determined to please the Lord his God. ¹ 

Therefore, because of the account found in this letter and what they had faced in this regard and what had happened to them, the Jews established as binding on themselves, their descendants, and all who joined their company that they should observe these two days without fail, just as written and at the appropriate time on an annual basis.

He leads priests away stripped ¹  and overthrows ²  the potentates. ³ 

When he made ¹  the force of the wind and measured ²  the waters with a gauge.

when I prescribed ¹  its limits, and set ²  in place its bolts and doors,

Majestic splendor emanates from him; ¹  his sanctuary is firmly established and beautiful. ²