“But can you, O God, really live on earth? Not even all of heaven is large enough to hold you, so how can this Temple that I have built be large enough?
Remember your promises and do not despise us; do not bring disgrace on Jerusalem, the place of your glorious throne. Do not break the covenant you made with us.
The Lord rejected his altar and deserted his holy Temple; He allowed the enemy to tear down its walls. They shouted in victory where once we had worshiped in joy.
Do not adopt the customs of the people who live there; I am driving out those pagans so that you can enter the land. They have disgusted me with all their evil practices.
First, however, the land must be rid of its people, so that it can enjoy its complete rest, and they must pay the full penalty for having rejected my laws and my commands.
But even then, when they are still in the land of their enemies, I will not completely abandon them or destroy them. That would put an end to my covenant with them, and I am the Lord their God.
Now then, if your land is not fit to worship in, come over into the Lord's land, where his Tent is. Claim some land among us. But don't rebel against the Lord or make rebels out of us by building an altar in addition to the altar of the Lord our God.
Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, said to them, “Now we know that the Lord is with us. You have not rebelled against him, and so you have saved the people of Israel from the Lord's punishment.”
I heard a loud voice speaking from the throne: “Now God's home is with people! He will live with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will be their God.