The Levites even left their pasturelands and their property behind and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons prohibited them from serving as the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s priests.

Disaster after disaster will come, and one rumor after another. They will seek a vision from a prophet; priestly instruction will disappear, along with counsel from the elders.

They must not marry a widow or a divorcee, but they may marry a virgin from the house of Israel<n id="1" /> or a widow who is a priest&#8217;s widow.

<p class="poetry">You have destroyed<n id="1" /> my peoplep> <p class="poetry">by failing to acknowledge me!p> <p class="poetry">Because you refuse to acknowledge me,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I will reject you as my priests.p> <p class="poetry">Because you reject<n id="3" /> the law of your God,p> <p class="poetry">I will reject<n id="4" /> your descendants.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">Then some people<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah!<n id="2" /> There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God&#8217;s word.<n id="3" /> Come on! Let&#8217;s bring charges against him and get rid of him!<n id="4" /> Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.&#8221;p>