²⁶ This is why we said to ourselves, ‘Let us prepare for it and build an altar, but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.’ ²⁷ Let it be a witness between ourselves and yourselves as well as for the generations that come after us so that we might continue in the service of the Lord, offering burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings before him. This way, in the future, your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants, ‘You have no share in the Lord.’ ²⁸ We said to ourselves, ‘If they ever say this to us or to our descendants in the future, we will be able to tell them to look at the copy of the Lord’s altar that was built by our fathers. It was not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but to serve as a witness between ourselves and yourselves.