And the sovereign stood by the column and made a covenant before יהוה, to follow יהוה and to guard His commands and His witnesses and His laws, with all his heart and all his being, to establish the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant.
“Now do not stiffen your neck, like your fathers, stretch forth the hand to יהוה, and come to His set-apart place, which He has set apart forever, and serve יהוה your Elohim, so that His burning wrath turns away from you.
“Please, let the leaders of all the assembly stand. And let all those in our cities who have taken foreign women come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of their cities, until the burning wrath of our Elohim is turned away from us in this matter.”
“Now then, let us make a covenant with our Elohim to put away all these wives and those who have been born to them, according to the counsel of יהוה and of those who tremble at the command of our Elohim. And let it be done according to the Torah.
‘And you recently turned and did what was right in My eyes, each man proclaiming release to his neighbour. And you made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My Name.
‘And I shall give the men who are transgressing My covenant, who have not established the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it:
And they raised over him a great heap of stones, which remains to this day. Then יהוה turned from the fierceness of His displeasure. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Aḵ