“Tell Aaron and his sons that they must deal respectfully with the holy offerings ¹  of the Israelites, which they consecrate to me, so that they do not profane my holy name. ²  I am the Lord.

They must keep my charge so that they do not incur sin on account of it ¹  and therefore die ²  because they profane it. I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

And you will bear no sin concerning it when you offer up the best of it. And you must not profane the holy things of the Israelites, or else you will die.’” ¹ 

“Instruct the Israelites to give ¹  the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the Israelites ²  will possess. You must also give the Levites grazing land around the towns.

a land where you may eat food ¹  in plenty and find no lack of anything, a land whose stones are iron ²  and from whose hills you can mine copper.

But you must seek only the place he ¹  chooses from all your tribes to establish his name as his place of residence, ²  and you must go there.

Or who among you has planted a vineyard and not benefited from it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else benefit from it.

You will be engaged to a woman and another man will rape ¹  her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not even begin to use it.

The descendants of Joseph were considered as two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. The Levites were allotted no territory, though they were assigned cities in which to live, along with the grazing areas for their cattle and possessions. ¹ 

in Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said, “The Lord told Moses to assign us cities in which to live along with the grazing areas for our cattle.”

Each of these cities had grazing areas around it; they were alike in this regard. ¹ 

After this happened, Jeroboam still did not change his evil ways; ¹  he continued to appoint common people ²  as priests at the high places. Anyone who wanted the job he consecrated as a priest. ³ 

Now the king of Syria had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight common soldiers or high-ranking officers; ¹  fight only the king of Israel.”

Now King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over the people whom he allowed to remain in the land of Judah. ¹ 

Now the king of Syria had ordered his chariot commanders, “Do not fight common soldiers or high ranking officers; ¹  fight only the king of Israel!”

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

Stand in the sanctuary and, together with the Levites, represent the family divisions of your countrymen. ¹ 

The priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their towns, and all the rest of Israel lived in their towns.

Then you ¹  spoke through a vision to your faithful followers ²  and said: “I have energized a warrior; ³  I have raised up a young man ⁴  from the people.

What more can I do for my vineyard beyond what I have already done? When I waited for it to produce edible grapes, why did it produce sour ones instead?