So Joseph, a Levite who was a native of Cyprus, called by the apostles Barnabas (which is translated “son of encouragement”), ¹ 

And it could be said that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid a tithe through Abraham.

For he was still in his ancestor Abraham’s loins ¹  when Melchizedek met him.

who has become a priest not by a legal regulation about physical descent ¹  but by the power of an indestructible life.

On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony – and ¹  the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted, and brought forth buds, and produced blossoms, and yielded almonds! ² 

¹ The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your tribe ²  with you must bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, ³  and you and your sons with you must bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

At that time I instructed you as follows: “The Lord your God has given you this land for your possession. You warriors are to cross over before your fellow Israelites ¹  equipped for battle.

Of Levi he said: Your Thummim and Urim ¹  belong to your godly one, ²  whose authority you challenged at Massah, ³  and with whom you argued at the waters of Meribah. ⁴ 

The rest of Manasseh’s descendants were also assigned land ¹  by their clans, including the descendants of Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. These are the male descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph by their clans.

The descendants of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you assigned us only one tribal allotment? After all, we have many people, for until now the Lord has enabled us to increase in number.” ¹ 

He had thirty sons. He arranged for thirty of his daughters to be married outside his extended family, ¹  and he arranged for thirty young women to be brought from outside as wives for his sons. ²  Ibzan ³  led ⁴  Israel for seven years;

When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he summoned 180,000 skilled warriors from Judah and Benjamin ¹  to attack Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.

Asa had an army of 300,000 men from Judah, equipped with large shields and spears. He also had 280,000 men from Benjamin who carried small shields and were adept archers; they were all skilled warriors.

“As for you, son of man, take one branch, and write on it, ‘For Judah, and for the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another branch and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the branch of Ephraim and all the house of Israel associated with him.’

Your wives, children and cattle may stay in the land that Moses assigned to you east of the Jordan River. But all you warriors must cross over armed for battle ahead of your brothers. ¹  You must help them

(The Danites failed to conquer their territory, ¹  so they went up and fought with Leshem and captured it. They put the sword to it, took possession of it, and lived in it. They renamed it ²  Dan after their ancestor. ³ )

The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the part of the field that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred pieces of money. ¹  So it became the inheritance of the tribe of Joseph. ² 

Aaron will bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of decision over his heart ¹  when he goes into the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually.

So Moses stood at the entrance of the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come ¹  to me.” ²  All the Levites gathered around him,

They set the onyx stones in gold filigree settings, engraved as with the engravings of a seal ¹  with the names of the sons of Israel. ²