the angel who redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; let them be called by my name, and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
My people, do not now be negligent, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in His presence, to serve Him, and to be ministers and make sacrifices for Him.”
Some of the sons of the priests were discovered to have wedded foreign women, namely the sons of Joshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.
Those who came with Zerubbabel were Joshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah. The number of men of the people of Israel were:
Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Joshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, helping them.
Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses, His chosen one, stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath from destroying them.
Therefore thus says the Lord: If you return, then I will bring you back, and you shall stand before Me; and if you take out the precious from the worthless, you will be My spokesman. Let them return to you, but do not return to them.
Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, having charge at the gates of the house and ministering to the house. They shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them.
But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of My sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from Me, they shall come near to Me to minister to Me, and they shall stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God.
In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord 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,
Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.
Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord, and be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong all you people of the land, says the Lord. Work, for I am with you, says the Lord of Hosts.
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, even the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. He is coming, says the Lord of Hosts.
At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to Him, and to bless in His name, to this day.