You are my brothers – my very own flesh and blood! ¹  Why should you delay any further in bringing the king back?’

The rest of their fellow Levites ¹  were assigned to perform the remaining tasks at God’s sanctuary. ² 

That day David first gave to Asaph and his colleagues this song of thanks to the Lord:

including Obed-Edom and sixty-eight colleagues. Obed-Edom son of Jeduthun and Hosah were gatekeepers.

Their fellow Levites were in charge of the storehouses ¹  in God’s temple and the storehouses containing consecrated items.

Because of my condition, ¹  even my friends and acquaintances keep their distance; ²  my neighbors stand far away. ³ 

Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others who were members of the high priest’s family. ¹ 

They replied, “The man questioned us ¹  thoroughly ²  about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ ³  So we answered him in this way. ⁴  How could we possibly know ⁵  that he would say, ⁶  ‘Bring your brother down’?”

Then Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his other two sons, “Do not ¹  dishevel the hair of your heads ²  and do not tear your garments, so that you do not die and so that wrath does not come on the whole congregation. Your brothers, all the house of Israel, are to mourn the burning which the Lord has caused, ³ 

Then Laban said to Jacob, “Should you work ¹  for me for nothing because you are my relative? ²  Tell me what your wages should be.”

Judah, ¹  your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, your father’s sons will bow down before you.

You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must surely reprove your fellow citizen so that you do not incur sin on account of him. ¹ 

The Lord said to Moses: “Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron – say to them, ‘For a dead person ¹  no priest ²  is to defile himself among his people, ³ 

“‘If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his near redeemer is to come to you and redeem what his brother sold. ¹ 

“‘If your brother becomes impoverished with regard to you so that he sells himself to you, you must not subject him to slave service. ¹ 

He must be with the one who bought him ¹  like a yearly hired worker. ²  The one who bought him ³  must not rule over him harshly in your sight.

See, I have given the Levites all the tithes in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they perform – the service of the tent of meeting.

¹ Moses ²  sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: ³  “Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardships we have experienced, ⁴ 

And they must stand as your towns of refuge from the avenger in order that the killer may not die until he has stood trial before the community.

You must not hate an Edomite, for he is your relative; ¹  you must not hate an Egyptian, for you lived as a foreigner ²  in his land.