he serves to this day at the King’s Gate on the east. These were the gatekeepers from the camp of the descendants of Levi.

In three days, when they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword ¹  and went to the unsuspecting city ²  and slaughtered every male.

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin ¹  on me by making me a foul odor ²  among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I ³  am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!”

He will act like a refiner and purifier of silver and will cleanse the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will offer the Lord a proper offering.

These were the descendants of Levi according to their families, that is, the leaders of families as counted and individually listed who carried out assigned tasks in the Lord’s temple and were twenty years old and up. ¹ 

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,

As Jesus ¹  was having a meal ²  in Levi’s ³  home, many tax collectors ⁴  and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.

According to David’s final instructions, the Levites twenty years old and up were counted. ¹ 

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

Then the Levitical priests ¹  will approach (for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve him and to pronounce blessings in his name, ²  and to decide ³  every judicial verdict ⁴ )

And he got up and followed him, leaving everything ¹  behind. ² 

See, I have given the Levites all the tithes in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they perform – the service of the tent of meeting.

These are the families of the Levites: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, the family of the Korahites. Kohath became the father of Amram.

I had them assemble ¹  at the canal ²  that flows toward Ahava, and we camped there for three days. I observed that the people and the priests were present, but I found no Levites there.

The Israelites and the Levites will bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil to the storerooms where the utensils of the sanctuary are kept, and where the priests who minister stay, along with the gatekeepers and the singers. We will not neglect the temple of our God.”

The rest of the Kohathite clans of the Levites were allotted cities from the tribe of Ephraim.

But Melchizedek ¹  who does not share their ancestry ²  collected a tithe ³  from Abraham and blessed ⁴  the one who possessed the promise.

But Simeon and Levi replied, ¹  “Should he treat our sister like a common prostitute?”

But ¹  the Levites, according to the tribe of their fathers, ²  were not numbered ³  among them.

So if perfection had in fact been possible through the Levitical priesthood – for on that basis ¹  the people received the law – what further need would there have been for another priest to arise, said to be in the order of Melchizedek and not in Aaron’s order?