So Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. And he got up early the next morning and built an altar near the bottom of the mountain. He set up twelve stones, one stone for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.
I will bring these people to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. The offerings and sacrifices they place on my altar will please me, because my Temple will be called a house for prayer for people from all nations.”
All the sheep from Kedar will be given to you; the sheep from Nebaioth will be brought to you. They will be pleasing sacrifices on my altar, and I will make my beautiful Temple more beautiful.
This message is to Egypt. It is about the army of Neco king of Egypt, which was defeated at the city of Carchemish on the Euphrates River by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. This was in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of Judah. This is the Lord’s message to Egypt:
People living far away will come and build the Temple of the Lord. Then you will know the Lord All-Powerful has sent me to you. This will happen if you completely obey the Lord your God.”
This altar is proof to you and us and to all our children who will come after us that we worship the Lord with our whole burnt offerings, grain, and fellowship offerings. This was so your children would not say to our children, ‘You are not the Lord’s.’
“In the future if your children say that, our children can say, ‘See the altar made by our ancestors. It is exactly like the Lord’s altar, but we do not use it for sacrifices. It shows that we are part of Israel.’