2 Chronicles 13:8-11
13:8 Now you are declaring that you will resist the Lord’s rule through the Davidic dynasty. 1 You have a huge army, 2 and bring with you the gold calves that Jeroboam made for you as gods.
13:9 But you banished 3 the Lord’s priests, Aaron’s descendants, and the Levites, and appointed your own priests just as the surrounding nations do! Anyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of these fake gods! 4
13:10 But as for us, the Lord is our God and we have not rejected him. Aaron’s descendants serve as the Lord’s priests and the Levites assist them with the work. 5
13:11 They offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord every morning and every evening, along with fragrant incense. They arrange the Bread of the Presence on a ritually clean table and light the lamps on the gold lampstand every evening. Certainly 6 we are observing the Lord our God’s regulations, but you have rejected him.
1 tn Heb “the kingdom of the Lord by the hand of the sons of David.”
2 tn Or “horde”; or “multitude.”
3 tn In the Hebrew text this is phrased as a rhetorical question, “Did you not banish?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you did,” the force of which is reflected in the translation “But you banished.”
4 tn Heb “whoever comes to fill his hand with a bull of a son of cattle, and seven rams, and he is a priest to no-gods.”
5 tn Heb “and priests serving the Lord [are] the sons of Aaron and the Levites in the work.”
6 tn Or “for.”