The Lord said to Moses: “Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron – say to them, ‘For a dead person ¹  no priest ²  is to defile himself among his people, ³ 

I myself have chosen ¹  your brothers the Levites from among the Israelites. They are given to you as a gift from the Lord, to perform the duties ²  of the tent of meeting.

Now Eli was very old when he heard about everything that his sons used to do to all the people of Israel ¹  and how they used to have sex with ²  the women who were stationed at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

Now the boy Samuel continued serving the Lord under Eli’s supervision. ¹  Word from the Lord was rare in those days; revelatory visions were infrequent.

“Treat fairly ¹  the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and provide for their needs, ²  because they helped me ³  when I had to flee from your brother Absalom.

Solomon’s and Hiram’s construction workers, ¹  along with men from Byblos, ²  did the chiseling and prepared the wood and stones for the building of the temple. ³ 

Serving beside him was his fellow Levite Asaph, ¹  son of Berechiah, son of Shimea,

Serving beside them were their fellow Levites, the descendants of Merari, led by ¹  Ethan, son of Kishi, son of Abdi, son of Malluch,

These were the men who joined David in Ziklag, when he was banished ¹  from the presence of Saul son of Kish. (They were among the warriors who assisted him in battle.

along with some of their relatives who were second in rank, including Zechariah, ¹  Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, the gatekeepers.

Benaiah son of Jehoiada supervised ¹  the Kerethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were the king’s leading officials. ² 

All these were the sons of Heman, the king’s prophet. God had promised him these sons in order to make him prestigious. ¹  God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.

They commanded an army of 307,500 skilled and able warriors who were ready to defend ¹  the king against his enemies.

supervised the laborers and all the foremen on their various jobs. ¹  Some of the Levites were scribes, officials, and guards.

Then they presented the decrees of the king to the king’s satraps and to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, who gave help to the people and to the temple of God.

Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah were ¹  against this, assisted by Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite.

Whoever shares with a thief ¹  is his own enemy; ²  he hears the oath to testify, ³  but does not talk.

Foreigners will rebuild your walls; their kings will serve you. Even though I struck you down in my anger, I will restore my favor and have compassion on you. ¹ 

The prophets prophesy lies. The priests exercise power by their own authority. ¹  And my people love to have it this way. But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes! ² 

Then ¹  he rolled up ²  the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on ³  him.