These were the sons of Levi by their ancestral houses, the heads of families as they were enrolled according to the number of the names of the individuals from twenty years old and up who were to do the work for the service of the house of the Lord.
Thus they shall keep charge of the tent of meeting and the sanctuary and shall attend the descendants of Aaron, their kindred, for the service of the house of the Lord.”
They organized them by lot, all alike, for there were officers of the sanctuary and officers of God among both the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar.
Shallum son of Kore, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah, and his kindred of his ancestral house, the Korahites, were in charge of the work of the service, guardians of the thresholds of the tent, as their ancestors had been in charge of the camp of the Lord, guardians of the entrance.
Now these are the singers, the heads of ancestral houses of the Levites, living in the chambers of the temple free from other service, for they were on duty day and night.
In the tent of meeting, outside the curtain that is before the covenant, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a perpetual ordinance to be observed throughout their generations by the Israelites.
Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: I am going to make them eat wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.
“But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall attend me to offer me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God.
And Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not dishevel your hair and do not tear your vestments, or you will die, and wrath will strike all the congregation; but your kindred, the whole house of Israel, may mourn the burning that the Lord has sent.
Aaron shall set it up in the tent of meeting, outside the curtain of the covenant, to burn from evening to morning before the Lord regularly; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.
My anger is hot against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders, for the Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like his proud war horse.
Rather, you shall appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the covenant and over all its equipment and over all that belongs to it; they are to carry the tabernacle and all its equipment, and they shall tend it and shall camp around the tabernacle.
but the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the covenant, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the Israelites, and the Levites shall perform the duties of the tabernacle of the covenant.”
Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire on it from the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them. For wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.”
Moreover, I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to do the service for the Israelites at the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the Israelites, in order that there may be no plague among the Israelites for coming too close to the sanctuary.”
This charge I commit to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies made earlier about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight,
if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I warn you to keep these instructions without prejudice, doing nothing on the basis of partiality.