¹⁸ Now be the first to come and do what the king commands, as all the nations and the people of Judah and those who are left in Jerusalem have done. Then you and your sons will be numbered among the Friends of the king, and you and your sons will be honored with silver and gold and many gifts.”^(A)

⁴³ and they cleansed the sanctuary and removed the defiled stones to an unclean place.

⁴⁷ Then they took unhewn^[a] stones, as the law directs, and built a new altar like the former one.^(A)

³⁶ In his days things prospered in his hands, so that the nations were put out of the^[a] country, as were also those in the city of David in Jerusalem, who had built themselves a citadel from which they used to sally forth and defile the environs of the sanctuary, doing great damage to its purity.^(A)