Jeroboam inaugurated a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival celebrated in Judah. On the altar in Bethel he offered sacrifices to the calves he had made. In Bethel he also appointed priests for the high places he had made.

Asa did what the Lord approved like his ancestor David had done.

So Uriah the priest did exactly as King Ahaz ordered.

But they pay no attention; instead they observe their earlier practices.

They attacked the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab.

Recall the miraculous deeds he performed, his mighty acts and the judgments he decreed,

For all the gods of the nations are worthless, but the Lord made the heavens.

The king made a large throne decorated with ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.

Jeroboam appointed his own priests to serve at the worship centers and to lead in the worship of the goat idols and calf idols he had made.

(14:1) Asa did what the Lord his God desired and approved.

He did what the Lord approved, but not with wholehearted devotion.

He followed in the footsteps of the kings of Israel; he also made images of the Baals.

This Passover was observed in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.

Get up, for this matter concerns you. We are with you, so be strong and act decisively!”

So Mordecai set out to do everything that Esther had instructed him.

“Is a mortal man righteous before God? Or a man pure before his Creator?

He does great and unsearchable things, marvelous things without number;

He frustrates the plans of the crafty so that their hands cannot accomplish what they had planned!

Remember that you have made me as with the clay; will you return me to dust?

You gave me life and favor, and your intervention watched over my spirit.