&#8220;Tell Aaron, &#8216;No man from your descendants throughout their generations<n id="1" /> who has a physical flaw<n id="2" /> is to approach to present the food of his God.

He must not defile himself even<n id="1" /> for his father or his mother or his brother or his sister if they die,<n id="2" /> because the separation<n id="3" /> for<n id="4" /> his God is on his head.

<p class="poetry">He<n id="1" /> has not looked on iniquity in Jacob,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">nor has he seen trouble<n id="3" /> in Israel.p> <p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> their God is with them;p> <p class="poetry">his acclamation<n id="4" /> as king is among them.p>

He followed all the sinful practices of his father before him. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the <sc>Lordsc> his God, as his ancestor David had been.<n id="1" />

Nevertheless for David&#8217;s sake the <sc>Lordsc> his God maintained his dynasty<n id="1" /> in Jerusalem by giving him a son<n id="2" /> to succeed him<n id="3" /> and by protecting Jerusalem.<n id="4" />

Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem.<n id="1" /> He did not do what pleased the <sc>Lordsc> his God, in contrast to his ancestor David.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">But each of these nations made<n id="1" /> its own gods and put them in the shrines on the high places that the people of Samaria<n id="2" /> had made. Each nation did this in the cities where they lived.

<p class="bodytext">But once he became powerful, his pride destroyed him.<n id="1" /> He disobeyed<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> his God. He entered the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple to offer incense on the incense altar.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem.<n id="1" /> He did evil in the sight of<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> his God.

<p class="bodytext">Then King Cyrus brought out the vessels of the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple which Nebuchadnezzar had brought from Jerusalem and had displayed<n id="1" /> in the temple of his gods.

On the first day of the first month he had determined to make<n id="1" /> the ascent from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he arrived at Jerusalem,<n id="2" /> for the good hand of his God was on him.

So tell them: &#8216;This is a nation that has not obeyed the <sc>Lordsc> their God and has not accepted correction. Faithfulness is nowhere to be found in it. These people do not even profess it anymore.<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">The prophet<n id="1" /> is a watchman<n id="2" /> over Ephraim<n id="3" /> on behalf of God,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">yet traps<n id="5" /> are laid for him along all of his paths;<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">animosity rages against him in the land<n id="7" /> of his God.p>

<p class="poetry">Though all the nations follow their respective gods,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">we will follow<n id="2" /> the <sc>Lordsc> our God forever.p>

<p class="poetry">He will assume his post<n id="1" /> and shepherd the people<n id="2" /> by the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s strength,p> <p class="poetry">by the sovereign authority of the <sc>Lordsc> his God.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They will live securely,<n id="4" /> for at that time he will be honored<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">even in the distant regions of<n id="6" /> the earth.p>

<p class="bodytext">But Moses sought the favor<n id="1" /> of the <sc>Lordsc> his God and said, &#8220;O <sc>Lordsc>, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

No man from the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a physical flaw may step forward<n id="1" /> to present the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s gifts; he has a physical flaw, so he must not step forward to present the food of his God.

It must be with him constantly and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the <sc>Lordsc> his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out.

David was very upset, for the men<n id="1" /> were thinking of stoning him;<n id="2" /> each man grieved bitterly<n id="3" /> over his sons and daughters. But David drew strength from the <sc>Lordsc> his God.p>

&#8220;You know that my father David was unable to build a temple to honor the <sc>Lordsc><n id="1" /> his God, for he was busy fighting battles on all fronts while the <sc>Lordsc> subdued his enemies.<n id="2" />