LXX Concordance for ἱερεῖς

“Even the priests who come near the LORD must consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out in anger against them.”

And the LORD replied to him, “Go down and come back with Aaron. But the priests and the people must not break through to come up to the LORD, or he will break out in anger against them.”

“He is to slaughter the bull before the LORD; Aaron's sons the priests are to present the blood and splatter it on all sides of the altar that is at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

“The sons of Aaron the priest will prepare a fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire.

“He will slaughter it on the north side of the altar before the LORD. Aaron's sons the priests will splatter its blood against the altar on all sides.

“He is to lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Then Aaron's sons the priests will splatter the blood on all sides of the altar.

“Aaron's sons will burn it on the altar along with the burnt offering that is on the burning wood, a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

“He must lay his hand on the head of his offering, then slaughter it before the tent of meeting. Aaron's sons will splatter its blood on all sides of the altar.

“He must lay his hand on its head and slaughter it before the tent of meeting. Aaron's sons will splatter[fn] its blood on all sides of the altar.

These are the names of Aaron's sons, the anointed priests, who were ordained to serve as priests.

“The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to sound the trumpets. Your use of these is a permanent statute throughout your generations.

“You are to go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who presides at that time. Ask, and they will give you a verdict in the case.

“Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve him and pronounce blessings in his name, and they are to give a ruling in[fn] every dispute and case of assault.

“Be careful with a person who has a case of serious skin disease, following carefully everything the Levitical priests instruct you to do. Be careful to do as I have commanded them.

Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, “Be silent, Israel, and listen! This day you have become the people of the LORD your God.

Then he said to the priests, “Carry the ark of the covenant and go on ahead of the people.” So they carried the ark of the covenant and went ahead of them.

When the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carried the ark of the covenant ahead of the people.

The priests carrying the ark of the LORD's covenant stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed on dry ground until the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan.

The priests carrying the ark continued standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything was completed that the LORD had commanded Joshua to tell the people, in keeping with all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people hurried across,

When the priests carrying the ark of the LORD's covenant came up from the middle of the Jordan, and their feet[fn] stepped out on solid ground, the water of the Jordan resumed its course, flowing over all the banks as before.

After Joshua had spoken to the troops, seven priests carrying seven rams' horns before the LORD moved forward and blew the rams' horns; the ark of the LORD's covenant followed them.

Joshua got up early the next morning. The priests took the ark of the LORD,

After the seventh time, the priests blew the rams' horns, and Joshua said to the troops, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city.

So the troops shouted, and the rams' horns sounded. When they heard the blast of the ram's horn, the troops gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. The troops advanced into the city, each man straight ahead, and they captured the city.

All Israel ​— ​resident alien and citizen alike ​— ​with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on either side of the ark of the LORD's covenant facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the LORD's servant had commanded earlier concerning blessing the people of Israel.

The Danites set up the carved image for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Moses,[fn] and his sons were priests for the Danite tribe until the time of the exile from the land.

This man would go up from his town every year to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of Armies at Shiloh, where Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were the LORD's priests.

That is why, still today, the priests of Dagon and everyone who enters the temple of Dagon in Ashdod do not step on Dagon's threshold.

Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests;

Seraiah was court secretary;

“Won't the priests Zadok and Abiathar be there with you? Report everything you hear from the palace to the priests Zadok and Abiathar.

Sheva was court secretary;

Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

Benaiah son of Jehoiada, in charge of the army;

Zadok and Abiathar, priests;

All the elders of Israel came, and the priests picked up the ark.

The priests brought the ark of the LORD's covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the most holy place beneath the wings of the cherubim.

When the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled the LORD's temple,

So Jehu killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel ​— ​all his great men, close friends, and priests ​— ​leaving him no survivors.

“Now, therefore, summon to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, and all his priests. None must be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Whoever is missing will not live.” However, Jehu was acting deceptively in order to destroy the servants of Baal.

Then Jehu sent messengers throughout all Israel, and all the servants of Baal[fn] came; no one failed to come. They entered the temple of Baal, and it was filled from one end to the other.

“each priest is to take it from his assessor[fn] and repair whatever damage is found in the temple.”[fn]

Then the king went to the LORD's temple with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the prophets ​— ​all the people from the youngest to the oldest. He read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the LORD's temple.

Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defiled the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba, where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the city gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city (on the left at the city gate).

The first to live in their towns on their own property again were Israelites, priests, Levites, and temple servants.

Then he said to the whole assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if this is from the LORD our God, let's spread out and send the message to the rest of our relatives in all the districts of Israel, including the priests and Levites in their cities with pasturelands, that they should gather together with us.

David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab.

So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel.

The priests, Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, were to blow trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah were also to be gatekeepers for the ark.

and the priests Benaiah and Jahaziel blew the trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God.

Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech[fn] son of Abiathar were priests;

Shavsha was court secretary;

They brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and the holy utensils that were in the tent. The priests and the Levites brought them up.

The priests brought the ark of the LORD's covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the most holy place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.

Now all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves regardless of their divisions. When the priests came out of the holy place,

And because of the cloud, the priests were not able to continue ministering, for the glory of the LORD filled God's temple.

Now therefore:

Arise, LORD God, come to your resting place,

you and your powerful ark.

May your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation,

and may your faithful people rejoice in goodness.

The priests were not able to enter the LORD's temple because the glory of the LORD filled the temple of the LORD.

The priests and the Levites were standing at their stations. The Levites had the musical instruments of the LORD, which King David had made to give thanks to the LORD ​— ​“for his faithful love endures forever” ​— ​when he offered praise with them. Across from the Levites, the priests were blowing trumpets, and all the people were standing.

The priests and Levites from all their regions throughout Israel took their stand with Rehoboam,

“But as for us, the LORD is our God. We have not abandoned him; the priests ministering to the LORD are descendants of Aaron, and the Levites serve at their tasks.

“Look, God and his priests are with us at our head. The trumpets are ready to sound the charge against you. Israelites, don't fight against the LORD God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed.”

Judah turned and discovered that the battle was in front of them and behind them, so they cried out to the LORD. Then the priests blew the trumpets,

The Levites with them were Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah,[fn] Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah; the priests, Elishama and Jehoram, were with these Levites.

“No one is to enter the LORD's temple but the priests and those Levites who serve; they may enter because they are holy, but all the people are to obey the requirement of the LORD.

So he gathered the priests and Levites and said, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect silver from all Israel to repair the temple of your God as needed year by year, and do it quickly.”

However, the Levites did not hurry.

The priest Azariah, along with eighty brave priests of the LORD, went in after him.

Then Azariah the chief priest and all the priests turned to him and saw that he was diseased on his forehead. They rushed him out of there. He himself also hurried to get out because the LORD had afflicted him.

The priests went to the entrance of the LORD's temple to cleanse it. They took all the unclean things they found in the LORD's sanctuary to the courtyard of the LORD's temple. Then the Levites received them and took them outside to the Kidron Valley.

So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received the blood and splattered it on the altar. They slaughtered the rams and splattered the blood on the altar. They slaughtered the lambs and splattered the blood on the altar.

The priests slaughtered the goats and put their blood on the altar for a sin offering, to make atonement for all Israel, for the king said that the burnt offering and sin offering were for all Israel.

The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.

However, since there were not enough priests, they weren't able to skin all the burnt offerings, so their Levite brothers helped them until the work was finished and until the priests consecrated themselves. For the Levites were more conscientious[fn] to consecrate themselves than the priests were.

because they were not able to observe it at the appropriate time. Not enough of the priests had consecrated themselves, and the people hadn't been gathered together in Jerusalem.

They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites were ashamed, and they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the LORD's temple.

The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread seven days with great joy, and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day after day with loud instruments.

Then the whole assembly of Judah with the priests and Levites, the whole assembly that came from Israel, the resident aliens who came from the land of Israel, and those who were living in Judah, rejoiced.

Then the priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard them, and their prayer came into his holy dwelling place in heaven.

The king went up to the LORD's temple with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the Levites ​— ​all the people from the oldest to the youngest. He read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the LORD's temple.

So the service was established; the priests stood at their posts and the Levites in their divisions according to the king's command.

Afterward, they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, since the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were busy offering up burnt offerings and fat until night. So the Levites made preparations for themselves and for the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

No Passover had been observed like it in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel. None of the kings of Israel ever observed a Passover like the one that Josiah observed with the priests, the Levites, all Judah, the Israelites who were present in Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

All the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, imitating all the detestable practices of the nations, and they defiled the LORD's temple that he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

So the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites ​— ​everyone whose spirit God had roused ​— ​prepared to go up and rebuild the LORD's house in Jerusalem.

The priests included

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

Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests along with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his brothers began to build the altar of Israel's God in order to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God.

In the second month of the second year after they arrived at God's house in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers, including the priests, the Levites, and all who had returned to Jerusalem from the captivity, began to build. They appointed the Levites who were twenty years old or more to supervise the work on the LORD's house.

When the builders had laid the foundation of the LORD's temple, the priests, dressed in their robes and holding trumpets, and the Levites descended from Asaph, holding cymbals, took their positions to praise the LORD, as King David of Israel had instructed.

Then the Israelites, including the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the exiles, celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy.

They also appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God in Jerusalem, according to what is written in the book of Moses.

All of the priests and Levites were ceremonially clean, because they had purified themselves. They killed the Passover lamb for themselves, their priestly brothers, and all the exiles.

So the priests and Levites took charge of the silver, the gold, and the articles that had been weighed out, to bring them to the house of our God in Jerusalem.

After these things had been done, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the surrounding peoples whose detestable practices are like those of the Canaanites, Hethites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.

Then Ezra got up and made the leading priests, Levites, and all Israel take an oath to do what had been said; so they took the oath.

The high priest Eliashib and his fellow priests began rebuilding the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and installed its doors. After building the wall to the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel, they dedicated it.

And next to him the priests from the surrounding area made repairs.

Each of the priests made repairs above the Horse Gate, each opposite his own house.

The priests included

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

When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns,

On the second day, the family heads of all the people, along with the priests and Levites, assembled before the scribe Ezra to study the words of the law.

So now, our God ​— ​the great, mighty,

and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant —

do not view lightly all the hardships that have afflicted us,

our kings and leaders,

our priests and prophets,

our ancestors and all your people,

from the days of the Assyrian kings until today.

Our kings, leaders, priests, and ancestors

did not obey your law

or listen to your commands

and warnings you gave them.

In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement in writing on a sealed document containing the names of our leaders, Levites, and priests.

Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaiah.

These were the priests.

The rest of the people ​— ​the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, and temple servants, along with their wives, sons, and daughters, everyone who is able to understand and who has separated themselves from the surrounding peoples to obey the law of God ​— ​

We have cast lots among the priests, Levites, and people for the donation of wood by our ancestral families[fn] at the appointed times each year. They are to bring the wood to our God's house to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law.

For the Israelites and the Levites are to bring the contributions of grain, new wine, and fresh oil to the storerooms where the articles of the sanctuary are kept and where the priests who minister are, along with the gatekeepers and singers. We will not neglect the house of our God.

These are the heads of the province who stayed in Jerusalem (but in the villages of Judah each lived on his own property in their towns ​— ​the Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants, and descendants of Solomon's servants ​— ​

These are the priests and Levites who went up with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Jeshua:

Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

In the days of Joiakim, the heads of the priestly families were

In the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, the heads of the families of the Levites and priests were recorded while Darius the Persian ruled.

After the priests and Levites had purified themselves, they purified the people, the city gates, and the wall.

as well as the priests:

Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin,

Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah,

and Hananiah, with trumpets;

His priests fell by the sword,

and the widows could not lament.

May your priests be clothed with righteousness,

and may your faithful people shout for joy.

“Speak tenderly to[fn] Jerusalem,

and announce to her

that her time of hard service is over,

her iniquity has been pardoned,

and she has received from the LORD's hand

double for all her sins.”

But you will be called the LORD's priests;

they will speak of you as ministers of our God;

you will eat the wealth of the nations,

and you will boast in their riches.

“I will also take some of them as priests and Levites,” says the LORD.

The priests quit asking, “Where is the LORD? ”

The experts in the law no longer knew me,

and the rulers rebelled against me.

The prophets prophesied by[fn] Baal

and followed useless idols.

Like the shame of a thief when he is caught,

so the house of Israel has been put to shame.

They, their kings, their officials,

their priests, and their prophets

“On that day” ​— ​this is the LORD's declaration ​— ​“the king and the officials will lose their courage. The priests will tremble in fear, and the prophets will be scared speechless.”

“The prophets prophesy falsely,

and the priests rule by their own authority.

My people love it like this.

But what will you do at the end of it?

The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the temple of the LORD.

Then the priests and prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man deserves the death sentence because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”

“because of all the evil the Israelites and Judeans have done to anger me ​— ​they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, the men of Judah, and the residents of Jerusalem.

Because you trust in your works and treasures,

you will be captured also.

Chemosh will go into exile

with his priests and officials.

Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated;

cry out, daughters of Rabbah!

Clothe yourselves with sackcloth, and lament;

run back and forth within your walls,[fn]

because Milcom will go into exile

together with his priests and officials.

The roads to Zion mourn,

for no one comes to the appointed festivals.

All her gates are deserted;

her priests groan,

her young women grieve,

and she herself is bitter.

I called to my lovers,

but they betrayed me.

My priests and elders

perished in the city

while searching for food

to keep themselves alive.

“Her priests do violence to my instruction and profane my holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they do not explain the difference between the clean and the unclean. They close their eyes to my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

Then the man said to me, “The northern and southern chambers that face the courtyard are the holy chambers where the priests who approach the LORD will eat the most holy offerings. There they will deposit the most holy offerings ​— ​the grain offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings ​— ​for the place is holy.

“You are to present them before the LORD; the priests will throw salt on them and sacrifice them as a burnt offering to the LORD.

“and complete the days of purification. Then on the eighth day and afterward, the priests will offer your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar, and I will accept you.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

“But the Levitical priests descended from Zadok, who kept charge of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, will approach me to serve me. They will stand before me to offer me fat and blood.” This is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

“The priests may not eat any bird or animal that died naturally or was mauled by wild beasts.

“The prince should enter from the outside by way of the gate's portico and stand at the gate's doorpost while the priests sacrifice his burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He will bow in worship at the gate's threshold and then depart, but the gate is not to be closed until evening.

He said to me, “This is the place where the priests will boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they will bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them into the outer court and transmit holiness to the people.”

Hear this, priests!

Pay attention, house of Israel!

Listen, royal house!

For the judgment applies to you

because you have been a snare at Mizpah

and a net spread out on Tabor.

Like raiders who wait in ambush for someone,

a band of priests murders on the road to Shechem.

They commit atrocities.

Grain and drink offerings have been cut off

from the house of the LORD;

the priests, who are ministers of the LORD, mourn.

Dress in sackcloth and lament, you priests;

wail, you ministers of the altar.

Come and spend the night in sackcloth,

you ministers of my God,

because grain and drink offerings

are withheld from the house of your God.

Let the priests, the LORD's ministers,

weep between the portico and the altar.

Let them say,

“Have pity on your people, LORD,

and do not make your inheritance a disgrace,

an object of scorn among the nations.

Why should it be said among the peoples,

‘Where is their God? ' ”

Their king and his princes

will go into exile together.

The LORD has spoken.

The LORD says:

As the shepherd snatches two legs

or a piece of an ear

from the lion's mouth,

so the Israelites who live in Samaria

will be rescued

with only the corner of a bed

or the[fn] cushion[fn] of a couch.[fn]

Her leaders issue rulings for a bribe,

her priests teach for payment,

and her prophets practice divination for silver.

Yet they lean on the LORD, saying,

“Isn't the LORD among us?

No disaster will overtake us.”

Her prophets are reckless —

treacherous men.

Her priests profane the sanctuary;

they do violence to instruction.

“This is what the LORD of Armies says: Ask the priests for a ruling.

by asking the priests who were at the house of the LORD of Armies as well as the prophets, “Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done these many years? ”

“Ask all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me?

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of me? says the LORD of Armies to you priests, who despise my name.”

Yet you ask, “How have we despised your name? ”

“and bring it to Aaron's sons the priests. The priest will take a handful of fine flour and oil from it, along with all its frankincense, and will burn this memorial portion of it on the altar, a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

and commanded the people, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God carried by the Levitical priests, you are to break camp and follow it.

So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven rams' horns in front of the ark of the LORD.”

the Philistines summoned the priests and the diviners and pleaded, “What should we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how we can send it back to its place.”

The king sent messengers to summon the priest Ahimelech son of Ahitub, and his father's whole family, who were priests in Nob. All of them came to the king.

Then the king ordered the guards standing by him, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD because they sided with David. For they knew he was fleeing, but they didn't tell me.” But the king's servants would not lift a hand to execute the priests of the LORD.

Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD.

Hushai then told the priests Zadok and Abiathar, “This is what[fn] Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel, and this is what[fn] I advised.

King David sent word to the priests Zadok and Abiathar: “Say to the elders of Judah, ‘Why should you be the last to restore the king to his palace? The talk of all Israel has reached the king at his house.

Jeroboam also made shrines[fn] on the high places and made priests from the ranks of the people who were not Levites.

The man of God cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD: “Altar, altar, this is what the LORD says, ‘A son will be born to the house of David, named Josiah, and he will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who are burning incense on you. Human bones will be burned on you.' ”

Even after this, Jeroboam did not repent of his evil way but again made priests for the high places from the ranks of the people. He ordained whoever so desired it, and they became priests of the high places.

Then Joash said to the priests, “All the dedicated silver brought to the LORD's temple, census silver, silver from vows, and all silver voluntarily given for the LORD's temple ​— ​

They feared the LORD, but they also made from their ranks priests for the high places, who were working for them at the shrines of the high places.

Then Josiah brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defiled the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba, where the priests had burned incense. He tore down the high places of the city gates at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city (on the left at the city gate).

He slaughtered on the altars all the priests of those high places, and he burned human bones on the altars. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

David left the priest Zadok and his fellow priests before the tabernacle of the LORD at the high place in Gibeon

Then he gathered all the leaders of Israel, the priests, and the Levites.

He made ten basins for washing and he put five on the right and five on the left. The parts of the burnt offering were rinsed in them, but the basin was used by the priests for washing.

Now all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves regardless of their divisions. When the priests came out of the holy place,

Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places, the goat-demons, and the golden calves he had made.

“Didn't you banish the priests of the LORD, the descendants of Aaron and the Levites, and make your own priests like the peoples of other lands do? Whoever comes to ordain himself with a young bull and seven rams may become a priest of what are not gods.

Uzziah, with a firepan in his hand to offer incense, was enraged. But when he became enraged with the priests, in the presence of the priests in the LORD's temple beside the altar of incense, a skin disease broke out on his forehead.

Then he brought in the priests and Levites and gathered them in the eastern public square.

However, since there were not enough priests, they weren't able to skin all the burnt offerings, so their Levite brothers helped them until the work was finished and until the priests consecrated themselves. For the Levites were more conscientious[fn] to consecrate themselves than the priests were.

He appointed the priests to their responsibilities and encouraged them to serve in the LORD's temple.

They responded, “We will return these things and require nothing more from them. We will do as you say.”

So I summoned the priests and made everyone take an oath to do this.

On that same day men were placed in charge of the rooms that housed the supplies, contributions, firstfruits, and tenths. The legally required portions for the priests and Levites were gathered from the village fields, because Judah was grateful to the priests and Levites who were serving.

He leads priests away barefoot

and overthrows established leaders.

“I will clothe its priests with salvation,

and its faithful people will shout for joy.

“And you will say to them, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am about to fill all who live in this land ​— ​the kings who reign for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the residents of Jerusalem ​— ​with drunkenness.

Then the officials and all the people told the priests and prophets, “This man doesn't deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God! ”

This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining exiled elders, the priests, the prophets, and all the people Nebuchadnezzar had deported from Jerusalem to Babylon.

“The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf ​— ​

“Therefore, this decree is for you priests: