The king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada to take his place at the head of ¹  the army, and the king appointed Zadok the priest to take Abiathar’s place. ² 

The priests and Levites carried the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, ¹  and all the holy items in the tent. ² 

The priests brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its assigned ¹  place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubs.

The priests could not carry out their duties ¹  because of the cloud; the Lord’s glory filled his temple. ² 

He built temples ¹  on the high places and appointed as priests people who were not Levites.

Then Jehu killed all who were left of Ahab’s family in Jezreel, and all his nobles, close friends, and priests. He left no survivors.

The priest gave to the officers of the units of hundreds King David’s spears and the shields that were kept in the Lord’s temple.

The priests should receive the silver they need from the treasurers and repair any damage to the temple they discover.” ¹ 

By the twenty-third year of King Jehoash’s reign the priests had still not repaired the damage to the temple.

The priests agreed ¹  not to collect silver from the people and relieved themselves of personal responsibility for the temple repairs. ² 

So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria went back and settled in Bethel. ¹  He taught them how to worship ²  the Lord.

At the same time they worshiped ¹  the Lord. They appointed some of their own people to serve as priests in the shrines on the high places. ² 

He sent Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, ¹  clothed in sackcloth, with this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz:

“Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him melt down ¹  the silver that has been brought by the people to the Lord’s temple and has been collected by the guards at the door.

Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a scroll.” Shaphan read it out loud before the king.

(Now the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they did eat unleavened cakes among their fellow priests.) ¹ 

He sacrificed all the priests of the high places on the altars located there, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer the priests were to blow the trumpets before the ark of God; Obed-Edom and Jehiel were also guardians ¹  of the ark.

The third army commander, assigned the third month, was Benaiah son of Jehoiada the priest. He was the leader of his division, which consisted of 24,000 men.

He gave him the regulations ¹  for the divisions of priests and Levites, for all the assigned responsibilities within the Lord’s temple, and for all the items used in the service of the Lord’s temple.