10 King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria. Ahaz saw the altar [191] at Damascus. King Ahaz sent a model and pattern of this altar to Uriah the priest.
10 And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof.
10 King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and saw there their [heathen] altar. King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest a model of the altar and an exact pattern for its construction.
10 And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof.
10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet up with Assyria’s King Tiglath-pileser. King Ahaz noticed the altar that was in Damascus, and he sent the altar’s plan and details for its construction to the priest Uriah.
10 And king Ahaz traveled to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser, the king of the Assyrians. And when he had seen the altar of Damascus, king Ahaz sent to Uriah, the priest, its pattern and likeness, according to all of its work.
10 And king Achaz went to Damascus to meet Theglathphalasar king of the Assyrians. And when he had seen the altar of Damascus, king Achaz sent to Urias the priest a pattern of it, and its likeness according to all the work thereof.
Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria came to fight against Israel. This was during the time that Pekah was king of Israel. Tiglath Pileser captured Ijon, Abel Bethmaacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, Galilee, and all the area of Naphtali. Tiglath Pileser took the people from these places as prisoners to Assyria.
Then Uriah the priest built an altar just like the model King Ahaz had sent him from Damascus. Uriah the priest built the altar this way before King Ahaz came back from Damascus.
Manasseh built altars {to honor false gods} in the Lord’s temple. (This is the place the Lord was talking about when he said, “I will put my name in Jerusalem.”)
So God’s people became dirty with the sins of those other people.\par God’s people were unfaithful to their God\par and did the things those other people did.\par
So Moses wrote all of the commands of the Lord {on a scroll}. The next morning, Moses got up and built an altar [155] near the bottom of the mountain. And he set up twelve stones—one for each of the twelve family groups of Israel.
I gathered some people that could be trusted to be witnesses. (These people were Uriah the priest, and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah.) These men watched me write those words.
And they will be ashamed of all the bad things they have done. Let them know the design of the temple. Let them know how it should be built, where the entrances and exits are, and all the designs on it. Teach them about all its rules and all its laws. And write down these things for everyone to see so they can obey all the laws and rules for the temple.
They won’t bring shame to my name by putting their threshold next to my threshold, and their door post next to my door post. In the past, only a wall separated them from me. So they brought shame to my name every time they sinned and did those terrible things. That is why I became angry and destroyed them.
But those Levites helped the people sin against me! They helped the people worship their idols! So I am making this promise against them: ‘They will be punished for their sin.’” The Lord my Master said this.
You teach that person to not honor his father. So you teach that it is not important to do what God said. You think that it is more important to follow those rules you have.
Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world. But let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what things are good and pleasing to God and what things are perfect.
After that happens, be careful! You will destroy those people. So don’t fall into the trap of worshiping their false gods. Be careful! Don’t go to those false gods for help. Don’t say, ‘Those people worshiped these gods, so I will worship that way too!’
In the future, if it happens that your children say that we do not belong to Israel, then our children can say, ‘Look! Our fathers who lived before us made an altar. That altar is exactly like the Lord’s altar {at the Holy Tent}. We do not use this altar for sacrifices—this altar is proof that we are part of Israel.’
You know that \{in the past\} you were living in a worthless way. You got that way of living from the people who lived before you. But you were saved from that way of living. You were bought, but not with things that ruin like gold or silver.