2 Chronicles 23:8

23:8 The Levites and all the men of Judah ¹  did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered. Each of them took his men, those who were on duty during the Sabbath as well as those who were off duty on the Sabbath. Jehoiada the priest did not release his divisions from their duties.

2 Chronicles 23:18

23:18 Jehoiada then assigned the duties of the Lord’s temple to the priests, the Levites whom David had assigned to the Lord’s temple. They were responsible for offering burnt sacrifices to the Lord with joy and music, according to ²  the law of Moses and the edict of David.

2 Chronicles 31:2

The People Contribute to the Temple

31:2 Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and Levites to do their assigned tasks ³  – to offer burnt sacrifices and present offerings and to serve, give thanks, and offer praise in the gates of the Lord’s sanctuary. ⁴ 

Numbers 18:5-7

18:5 You will be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the care of the altar, so that there will be ⁵  no more wrath on the Israelites. 18:6 I myself have chosen ⁶  your brothers the Levites from among the Israelites. They are given to you as a gift from the Lord, to perform the duties ⁷  of the tent of meeting. 18:7 But you and your sons with you are responsible for your priestly duties, for everything at the altar and within the curtain. And you must serve. I give you the priesthood as a gift for service; but the unauthorized person who approaches must be put to death.”

Numbers 18:1

Responsibilities of the Priests

18:1 ⁸ The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your tribe ⁹  with you must bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, ¹⁰  and you and your sons with you must bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

Numbers 24:1

Balaam Prophesies Yet Again

24:1 ¹¹ When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, ¹²  he did not go as at the other times ¹³  to seek for omens, ¹⁴  but he set his face ¹⁵  toward the wilderness.

Ezra 6:18

6:18 They appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their divisions over the worship of God at Jerusalem, ¹⁶  in accord with ¹⁷  the book of Moses.

[23:8]  ¹ tn Heb “all Judah.” The words “the men of” are supplied in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew text uses the name “Judah” by metonymy for the men of Judah.

[23:18]  ² tn Heb “as it is written in.”

[31:2]  ³ tn Heb “and Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and the Levites according to their divisions, each in accordance with his service for the priests and for the Levites.”

[31:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “in the gates of the encampments of the Lord.”

[18:5]  ⁵ tn The clause is a purpose clause, and the imperfect tense a final imperfect.

[18:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “taken.”

[18:6]  ⁷ tn The infinitive construct in this sentence is from עָבַד (’avad), and so is the noun that serves as its object: to serve the service.

[18:1]  ⁸ sn This chapter and the next may have been inserted here to explain how the priests are to function because in the preceding chapter Aaron’s position was affirmed. The chapter seems to fall into four units: responsibilities of priests (vv. 1-7), their portions (vv. 8-19), responsibilities of Levites (vv. 20-24), and instructions for Levites (vv. 25-32).

[18:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “your father’s house.”

[18:1]  ¹⁰ sn The responsibility for the sanctuary included obligations relating to any violation of the sanctuary. This was stated to forestall any further violations of the sanctuary. The priests were to pay for any ritual errors, primarily if any came too near. Since the priests and Levites come near all the time, they risk violating ritual laws more than any. So, with the great privileges come great responsibilities. The bottom line is that they were responsible for the sanctuary.

[24:1]  ¹¹ sn For a thorough study of the arrangement of this passage, see E. B. Smick, “A Study of the Structure of the Third Balaam Oracle,” The Law and the Prophets, 242-52. He sees the oracle as having an introductory strophe (vv. 3, 4), followed by two stanzas (vv. 5, 6) that introduce the body (vv. 7b-9b) before the final benediction (v. 9b).

[24:1]  ¹² tn Heb “it was good in the eyes of the Lord.”

[24:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “as time after time.”

[24:1]  ¹⁴ tn The word נְחָשִׁים (nÿkhashim) means “omens,” or possibly “auguries.” Balaam is not even making a pretense now of looking for such things, because they are not going to work. God has overruled them.

[24:1]  ¹⁵ tn The idiom signifies that he had a determination and resolution to look out over where the Israelites were, so that he could appreciate more their presence and use that as the basis for his expressing of the oracle.

[6:18]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:18]  ¹⁷ tn Aram “according to the writing of.”