Ezekiel 44:11

Then they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought burnt offerings into Yahweh’s house.

Set a wicked man over him. Let an adversary stand at his right hand.

Yes, take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest;

You shall give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons. They are wholly given to him on the behalf of the children of Israel.

Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of Yahweh’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them;

For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in Yahweh’s name, him and his sons forever.

The priests the sons of Levi shall come near, for them Yahweh your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in Yahweh’s name; and according to their word shall every controversy and every assault be decided.

So they and their children had the oversight of the gates of Yahweh’s house, even the house of the tent, as guards.

For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, and the people had not gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.

For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly for offerings one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.

They killed the Passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood which they received of their hand, and the Levites skinned them.

Now on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan also came among them.

In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came by Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,

Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

But the Levites shall encamp around the Tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel. The Levites shall be responsible for the Tabernacle of the Testimony.”

“Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn who open the womb among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine,

“Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock; and the Levites shall be mine. I am Yahweh.

They shall be joined to you and keep the responsibility of the Tent of Meeting, for all the service of the Tent. A stranger shall not come near to you.

Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”

Then David said, “No one ought to carry God’s ark but the Levites. For Yahweh has chosen them to carry God’s ark, and to minister to him forever.”

But the priests were too few, so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings. Therefore their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was ended, and until the priests had sanctified themselves; for the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.

He said, “Listen now, house of David. Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also?

The Lord said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have all of you, that he might sift you as wheat,

You shall stay at the door of the Tent of Meeting day and night seven days, and keep Yahweh’s command, that you don’t die: for so I am commanded.”

Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people, and blessed them; and he came down from offering the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings.

“Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him.

“When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furniture of the sanctuary, as the camp moves forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to carry it; but they shall not touch the sanctuary, lest they die. The sons of Kohath shall carry these things belonging to the Tent of Meeting.

“Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘This is how you shall bless the children of Israel.’ You shall tell them,

Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but you must also make yourself a prince over us?

Behold, I myself have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel. They are a gift to you, dedicated to Yahweh, to do the service of the Tent of Meeting.

and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease?” Yahweh said, “Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver him into your hand.”

Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. David said, “Does it seem to you a light thing to be the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man, and little known?”

Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to take a census of Israel.

For there were many in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves: therefore the Levites were in charge of killing the Passovers for everyone who was not clean, to sanctify them to Yahweh.

Then the Levitical priests arose and blessed the people. Their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy habitation, even to heaven.

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build God’s house which is at Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God, helping them.

Because the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together, all of them were pure. They killed the Passover for all the children of the captivity, for their brothers the priests, and for themselves.

Among the sons of the priests there were found who had married foreign women: of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brothers, Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.

Look! Praise Yahweh, all you servants of Yahweh, who stand by night in Yahweh’s house!

Does it seem a small thing to you to have fed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture? And to have drunk of the clear waters, but must you foul the residue with your feet?

He said to me, “This room, which faces toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the duty of the house.

Yet I will make them performers of the duty of the house, for all its service, and for all that will be done therein.

It is a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to Yahweh. It shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.

You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

I, even I, will bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die.

“As for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you,

Behold, I myself will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will go in after them. I will get myself honor over Pharaoh, and over all his armies, over his chariots, and over his horsemen.

Behold, I myself have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the heart of all who are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded you:

You shall set the Levites before Aaron and before his sons, and offer them as a wave offering to Yahweh.

Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.

but shall assist their brothers in the Tent of Meeting, to perform the duty, and shall perform no service. This is how you shall have the Levites do their duties.”

“To the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the Tent of Meeting.

At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, to stand before Yahweh to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day.

The man who does presumptuously in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before Yahweh your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die. You shall put away the evil from Israel.

This was yet a small thing in your eyes, Lord Yahweh; but you have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come; and this among men, Lord Yahweh!

As if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him.

So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

When God helped the Levites who bore the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

and that they should keep the duty of the Tent of Meeting, the duty of the holy place, and the duty of the sons of Aaron their brothers, for the service of Yahweh’s house.

My sons, don’t be negligent now; for Yahweh has chosen you to stand before him, to minister to him, and that you should be his ministers, and burn incense.”

who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:

Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak stood up with his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.

I sent them out to Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia; and I told them what they should tell Iddo, and his brothers the temple servants, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God.

Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah. These were the chiefs of the priests and of their brothers in the days of Jeshua.

On that day, men were appointed over the rooms for the treasures, for the wave offerings, for the first fruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them, according to the fields of the cities, the portions appointed by the law for the priests and Levites; for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites who waited.

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary. Praise Yahweh!

“I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die, and of the son of man who will be made as grass?

Yahweh showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs were set before Yahweh’s temple, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.

“ ‘For the Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.

“Therefore the Lord Yahweh says to them: ‘Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

You have not performed the duty of my holy things; but you have set performers of my duty in my sanctuary for yourselves.”

“ ‘ “But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who performed the duty of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. They shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood,” says the Lord Yahweh.

He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary.

He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, “Take the filthy garments off him.” To him he said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing.”

Yahweh’s angel protested to Joshua, saying,

The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which has been sown in them.

As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.”

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God,

or service, let’s give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching;

But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by man’s judgment. Yes, I don’t judge my own self.

Therefore “ ‘Come out from among them, and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you.

Be diligent in these things. Give yourself wholly to them, that your progress may be revealed to all.