I saw the sovereign One ¹  standing by the altar ²  and he said, “Strike the tops of the support pillars, ³  so the thresholds shake! Knock them down on the heads of all the people, ⁴  and I will kill the survivors ⁵  with the sword. No one will be able to run away; ⁶  no one will be able to escape. ⁷ 

It contained the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered entirely with gold. In this ark ¹  were the golden urn containing the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.

You are to make its four horns ¹  on its four corners; its horns will be part of it, ²  and you are to overlay it with bronze.

He answered, “I have been absolutely loyal ¹  to the Lord, the sovereign God, ²  even though the Israelites have abandoned the agreement they made with you, ³  torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and now they want to take my life.” ⁴ 

He answered, “I have been absolutely loyal ¹  to the Lord, the sovereign God, ²  even though the Israelites have abandoned the agreement they made with you, ³  torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and now they want to take my life.” ⁴ 

Then you will know that I am the Lord – when their dead lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and all the mountaintops, under every green tree and every leafy oak, ¹  the places where they have offered fragrant incense to all their idols.

Get dressed ¹  and lament, you priests! Wail, you who minister at the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you servants of my God, because no one brings grain offerings or drink offerings to the temple of your God anymore. ² 

Another ¹  angel, who was in charge of ²  the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to the angel ³  who had the sharp sickle, “Use ⁴  your sharp sickle and gather ⁵  the clusters of grapes ⁶  off the vine of the earth, ⁷  because its grapes ⁸  are now ripe.” ⁹ 

“I wish that one of you would close the temple doors, ¹  so that you no longer would light useless fires on my altar. I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and I will no longer accept an offering from you.

“You are to put it in front of the curtain that is before the ark of the testimony (before the atonement lid that is over the testimony), where I will meet you.

You must not offer strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering, and you must not pour out a drink offering on it.

These people continually and blatantly offend me ¹  as they sacrifice in their sacred orchards ²  and burn incense on brick altars. ³ 

Aaron is to burn sweet incense ¹  on it morning by morning; when he attends ²  to the lamps he is to burn incense. ³ 

“Whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you took no delight in.

He made its horns on its four corners; its horns were part of it, ¹  and he overlaid it with bronze.

They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. ¹ 

And every priest stands day after day ¹  serving and offering the same sacrifices again and again – sacrifices that can never take away sins.

When all this was over, the Israelites ¹  who were in the cities of Judah went out and smashed the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and demolished ²  all the high places and altars throughout Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. ³  Then all the Israelites returned to their own homes in their cities. ⁴ 

From the base of the ground to the lower edge is 3½ feet, ¹  and the width 1¾ feet; ²  and from the smaller ledge to the larger edge, 7 feet, ³  and the width 1¾ feet;

They demolished ¹  the sacred pillar of Baal and ²  the temple of Baal; it is used as ³  a latrine ⁴  to this very day.