Uriyahu the Kohen built an altar: according to all that king Achaz had sent from Damascus, so did Uriyahu the Kohen make it against the coming of king Achaz from Damascus.
Chizkiyahu spoke comfortably to all the Levites who had good understanding [in the service] of the LORD. So they ate throughout the feast for the seven days, offering sacrifices of shalom offerings, and making confession to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
Moreover he commanded the people who lived in Yerushalayim to give the portion of the Kohanim and the Levites, that they might give themselves to the law of the LORD.
You, Ezra, after the wisdom of your God who is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges, who may judge all the people who are beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God; and teach you him who doesn't know them.
Who is blind, but my servant? Or who is as deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is as blind as he who is at shalom, and as blind as the LORD's servant?
who confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers; who says of Yerushalayim, She shall be inhabited; and of the cities of Yehudah, They shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places of it;
Therefore thus says the LORD, If you return, then will I bring you again, that you may stand before me; and if you take forth the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth: they shall return to you, but you shall not return to them.
Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Yirmeyahu; for the law shall not perish from the Kohen, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
The Kohanim didn't say, Where is the LORD? and those who handle the law didn't know me: the rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Ba`al, and walked after things that do not profit.
Her Kohanim have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Shabbatot, and I am profaned among them.
Mischief shall come on mischief, and rumor shall be on rumor; and they shall seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the Kohen, and counsel from the elders.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no Kohen to me. Because you have forgotten your God's law, I will also forget your children.
and to speak to the Kohanim of the house of the LORD of Armies, and to the prophets, saying, *Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?*
*Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!* says the LORD of Armies.
He shall stand before El`azar the Kohen, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the LORD: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Yisra'el with him, even all the congregation.
The Kohanim the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and according to their word shall every controversy and every stroke be.
Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that you observe diligently, and do according to all that the Kohanim the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so you shall observe to do.