But once he became powerful, his pride destroyed him. ¹  He disobeyed ²  the Lord his God. He entered the Lord’s temple to offer incense on the incense altar.

They went to King Hezekiah and said: “We have purified the entire temple of the Lord, including the altar of burnt sacrifice and all its equipment, and the table for the Bread of the Presence and all its equipment.

We have prepared and consecrated all the items that King Ahaz removed during his reign when he acted unfaithfully. They are in front of the altar of the Lord.”

Then the priests slaughtered them. They offered their blood as a sin offering on the altar to make atonement for all Israel, because the king had decreed ¹  that the burnt sacrifice and sin offering were for all Israel.

Hezekiah ordered the burnt sacrifice to be offered on the altar. As they began to offer the sacrifice, they also began to sing to the Lord, accompanied by the trumpets and the musical instruments of King David of Israel.

Hezekiah is the one who eliminated ¹  the Lord’s ²  high places and altars and then told Judah and Jerusalem, “At one altar you must worship and offer sacrifices.”

He erected the altar of the Lord and offered on it peace offerings and thank offerings. He told the people of ¹  Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.

So all the preparations for the Lord’s service were made that day, as the Passover was observed and the burnt sacrifices were offered on the altar of the Lord, as prescribed by King Josiah.

They established the altar on its foundations, even though they were in terror of the local peoples, ¹  and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and the evening offerings.

With this money you should be sure to purchase bulls, rams, and lambs, along with the appropriate ¹  meal offerings and libations. You should bring them to the altar of the temple of your God which is in Jerusalem.

Then I will go ¹  to the altar of God, to the God who gives me ecstatic joy, ²  so that I express my thanks to you, ³  O God, my God, with a harp.

At that time there will be an altar for the Lord in the middle of the land of Egypt, as well as a sacred pillar ¹  dedicated to the Lord at its border.

Perhaps you will tell me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God.’ But Hezekiah is the one who eliminated his high places and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at this altar.’

All the sheep of Kedar will be gathered to you; the rams of Nebaioth will be available to you as sacrifices. ¹  They will go up on my altar acceptably, ²  and I will bestow honor on my majestic temple.

ז (Zayin) The Lord ¹  rejected ²  his altar and abhorred his temple. ³  He handed over to the enemy ⁴  her palace walls; the enemy ⁵  shouted ⁶  in the Lord’s temple as if it were a feast day. ⁷ 

He said to me, “Son of man, look up toward ¹  the north.” So I looked up toward the north, and I noticed to the north of the altar gate was this statue of jealousy at the entrance.

and the chamber which faces north is for the priests who keep charge of the altar. These are the descendants of Zadok, from the descendants of Levi, who may approach the Lord to minister to him.”

The altar was of wood, 5¼ feet ¹  high, with its length 3½ feet; ²  its corners, its length, ³  and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.”

You will take some of its blood, and place it on the four horns of the altar, on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border all around; you will cleanse it and make atonement for it. ¹ 

“On the second day, you will offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering. They will purify the altar just as they purified it with the bull.