Acceptable Offerings

¹⁷ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸ “Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them, ^(A)When any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the Lord, ¹⁹ if it is to be accepted for you it shall be a ^(B)male without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. ^20 (C)You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. ²¹ And when anyone ^(D)offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord ^(E)to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. ²² Animals ^(F)blind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or ^(G)an itch or scabs you shall not offer to the Lord or give them to the Lord as a food ^(H)offering on the altar. ²³ You may present a bull or a lamb that has a part ^(I)too long or too short for a freewill offering, but for a vow offering it cannot be accepted. ²⁴ Any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut you shall not offer to the Lord; you shall not do it within your land, ²⁵ neither shall you offer as ^(J)the bread of your God any such animals gotten from a foreigner. Since there is a ^(K)blemish in them, because of their mutilation, they will not be accepted for you.”

²⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^27 (L)“When an ox or sheep or goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as a food offering to the Lord. ²⁸ But you shall not kill an ox or a sheep ^(M)and her young in one day. ²⁹ And when you sacrifice a ^(N)sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. ³⁰ It shall be eaten on the same day; ^(O)you shall leave none of it until morning: I am the Lord.

^31 (P)“So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the Lord. ^32 (Q)And you shall not profane my holy name, that ^(R)I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. ^(S)I am the Lord who sanctifies you, ³³ who brought you out of the land of Egypt ^(T)to be your God: I am the Lord.”

Amaziah Reigns in Judah

14 ^(A)In the ^(B)second year of Joash the son of Joahaz, king of Israel, ^(C)Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign. ² He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. ³ And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, yet not like David his father. He did in all things as Joash his father had done. ^4 (D)But the high places were not removed; ^(E)the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. ⁵ And as soon as the royal power was ^(F)firmly in his hand, he struck down his servants ^(G)who had struck down the king his father. ⁶ But he did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, ^(H)“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin.”

^7 (I)He struck down ten thousand Edomites in ^(J)the Valley of Salt and took ^(K)Sela by storm, and called it ^(L)Joktheel, which is its name to this day.

^8 (M)Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash^[a] the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, ^(N)let us look one another in the face.” ⁹ And Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, ^(O)“A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. ¹⁰ You have indeed ^(P)struck down Edom, ^(Q)and your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home, for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”

¹¹ But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah ^(R)faced one another in battle at ^(S)Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. ¹² And Judah was defeated by Israel, ^(T)and every man fled to his home. ¹³ And Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits,^[b] from ^(U)the Ephraim Gate to ^(V)the Corner Gate. ¹⁴ And he seized ^(W)all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house, also hostages, and he returned to Samaria.

^15 (X)Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash that he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ¹⁶ And Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.

^17 (Y)Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. ¹⁸ Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ¹⁹ And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to ^(Z)Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there. ²⁰ And they brought him on horses; and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. ²¹ And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. ²² He built ^(AA)Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers.

Jeroboam II Reigns in Israel

²³ In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. ²⁴ And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^(AB)which he made Israel to sin. ^25 (AC)He restored the border of Israel ^(AD)from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of ^(AE)the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant ^(AF)Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from ^(AG)Gath-hepher. ²⁶ For the Lord ^(AH)saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, ^(AI)for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. ^27 (AJ)But the Lord had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

²⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he restored ^(AK)Damascus and ^(AL)Hamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? ²⁹ And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.

The Lord's Everlasting Covenant

⁵⁹ “For thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you ^(A)who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, ⁶⁰ yet ^(B)I will remember my covenant with you ^(C)in the days of your youth, ^(D)and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. ^61 (E)Then you will remember your ways ^(F)and be ashamed when you take ^(G)your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you ^(H)as daughters, but not on account of^[a] the covenant with you. ⁶² I will establish my covenant with you, ^(I)and you shall know that I am the Lord, ⁶³ that you may remember and be confounded, and ^(J)never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.”

Parable of Two Eagles and a Vine

17 The word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (K)“Son of man, ^(L)propound a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel; ³ say, Thus says the Lord God: ^(M)A great eagle ^(N)with great wings and long pinions, ^(O)rich in plumage of many colors, came ^(P)to Lebanon ^(Q)and took the top of the cedar. ⁴ He broke off the topmost of its young twigs and carried it to a land of trade and set it in a city of merchants. ⁵ Then he took of the seed of the land ^(R)and planted it in fertile soil.^[b] He placed it beside abundant waters. ^(S)He set it like a willow twig, ⁶ and it sprouted and became a ^(T)low ^(U)spreading vine, and its branches turned toward him, and its roots remained where it stood. So it became a vine and produced branches and put out boughs.

^7 (V)“And there was another great eagle with great wings and much plumage, ^(W)and behold, this vine bent its roots toward him and shot forth its branches toward him from ^(X)the bed where it was planted, that he might water it. ^8 (Y)It had been planted on good soil by abundant waters, that it might produce branches and bear fruit and become a noble vine.