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.

“Due to your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. The pillar of cloud did not stop guiding them in the path by day, ¹  nor did the pillar of fire stop illuminating for them by night the path on which they should travel.

I will remember and weep! ¹  For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God, shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival. ² 

“Send a message to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, ‘The Lord has spoken about Shemaiah the Nehelamite. “Shemaiah has spoken to you as a prophet even though I did not send him. He is making you trust in a lie. ¹ 

They also led off all the men, women, children, and royal princesses ¹  that Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, had left with Gedaliah, ²  the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. This included the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch son of Neriah.

He had Zedekiah’s eyes put out and had him bound in chains. ¹  Then the king of Babylon had him led off to Babylon and he was imprisoned there until the day he died.

“Say to the rebellious house of Israel: ¹  ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ ²  Say: ‘See here, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem ³  and took her king and her officials prisoner and brought them to himself in Babylon.

Then he brought me through the entrance, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers for the priests which faced north. There I saw ¹  a place at the extreme western end.

After him Judas the Galilean arose in the days of the census, ¹  and incited people to follow him in revolt. ²  He too was killed, and all who followed him were scattered.

He motioned to them ¹  with his hand to be quiet and then related ²  how the Lord had brought ³  him out of the prison. He said, “Tell James and the brothers these things,” and then he left and went to another place. ⁴ 

For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.

“It will not be like the covenant ¹  that I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I had no regard for them, says the Lord.

Even the light from a lamp will never shine in you again! The voices of the bridegroom and his bride will never be heard in you again. For your merchants were the tycoons of the world, because all the nations ¹  were deceived by your magic spells! ² 

Aaron is to lay his two hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the Israelites and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins, ¹  and thus he is to put them ²  on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man standing ready. ³ 

And he said to me, “Get up, go down at once from here because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have sinned! They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them and have made for themselves a cast metal image.” ¹ 

His brothers and all his family ¹  went down and brought him back. ²  They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led ³  Israel for twenty years.

When they return to you with all their heart and being ¹  in the land where they are held prisoner, ²  and direct their prayers to you toward the land you gave to their ancestors, your chosen city, and the temple I built for your honor, ³ 

He also tore down the altar in Bethel ¹  at the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin. ²  He burned all the combustible items at that high place and crushed them to dust; including the Asherah pole. ³ 

Then she saw ¹  the king standing by his pillar at the entrance. The officers and trumpeters stood beside the king and all the people of the land were celebrating and blowing trumpets, and the musicians with various instruments were leading the celebration. Athaliah tore her clothes and yelled, “Treason! Treason!” ² 

The alcoves were 10½ feet long and 10½ feet wide; between the alcoves were 8¾ feet. ¹  The threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate facing inward was 10½ feet.