Then you shall say before the Lord your God, “I have removed the sacred offering ¹  from my house and given it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows just as you have commanded me. ²  I have not violated or forgotten your commandments.

Then the Lord will make you return to Egypt by ship, over a route I said to you that you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

We said, ‘If in the future they say such a thing ¹  to us or to our descendants, we will reply, “See the model of the Lord’s altar that our ancestors ²  made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a reminder to us and you.”’ ³ 

When the Israelites cried out for help to the Lord, he ¹  raised up a deliverer for them. His name was Ehud son of Gera the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. ²  The Israelites sent him to King Eglon of Moab with their tribute payment. ³ 

If the individual said to him, “First let the fat be burned away, and then take for yourself whatever you wish,” he would say, “No! ¹  Hand it over right now! If you don’t, I will take it forcibly!”

The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the chest that was with it, which contained the gold objects. They placed them near the big stone. At that time the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord.

So Saul said to his servant, “All right, ¹  we can go. But what can we bring the man, since the food in our bags is used up? We have no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?”

You will go down to Gilgal before me. I am going to join you there to offer burnt offerings and to make peace offerings. You should wait for seven days, until I arrive and tell you what to do.”

He said, ‘Permit me to go, ¹  for we are having a family sacrifice in the city, and my brother urged ²  me to be there. So now, if I have found favor with you, let me go ³  to see my brothers.’ For that reason he has not come to the king’s table.”

All the men of Judah replied to the men of Israel, “Because the king is our close relative! Why are you so upset about this? Have we eaten at the king’s expense? ¹  Or have we misappropriated anything for our own use?”

Solomon then woke up and realized it was a dream. ¹  He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant, offered up burnt sacrifices, presented peace offerings, ²  and held a feast for all his servants.

“I want to make a treaty with you, like the one our fathers made. ¹  See, I have sent you silver and gold as a present. Break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he will retreat from my land.” ² 

He and his entire entourage returned to the prophet. Naaman ¹  came and stood before him. He said, “For sure ²  I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel! Now, please accept a gift from your servant.”

Jehoash said to the priests, “I place at your disposal ¹  all the consecrated silver that has been brought to the Lord’s temple, including the silver collected from the census tax, ²  the silver received from those who have made vows, ³  and all the silver that people have voluntarily contributed to the Lord’s temple. ⁴ 

The king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was planning a revolt. ¹  Hoshea had sent messengers to King So ²  of Egypt and had not sent his annual tribute to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria arrested him and imprisoned him. ³ 

He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. ¹  He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time ²  the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan. ³ 

Don’t listen to Hezekiah!’ For this is what the king of Assyria says, ‘Send me a token of your submission and surrender to me. ¹  Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,

David said, “I will express my loyalty ¹  to Hanun son of Nahash, for his father was loyal ²  to me.” So David sent messengers to express his sympathy over his father’s death. ³  When David’s servants entered Ammonite territory to visit Hanun and express the king’s sympathy, ⁴ 

But you banished ¹  the Lord’s priests, Aaron’s descendants, and the Levites, and appointed your own priests just as the surrounding nations do! Anyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of these fake gods! ² 

When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he was encouraged. ¹  He removed the detestable idols from the entire land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had seized in the Ephraimite hill country. He repaired the altar of the Lord in front of the porch of the Lord’s temple. ²