The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

he ¹  commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the Lord’s covenant,

(for he ¹  is a merciful God), he will not let you down ²  or destroy you, for he cannot ³  forget the covenant with your ancestors that he confirmed by oath to them.

and he ¹  delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate ²  them. Make no treaty ³  with them and show them no mercy!

Then people will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

“Take this scroll of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. It will remain there as a witness against you,

Be on guard so that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he has made with you, and that you do not make an image of any kind, just as he ¹  has forbidden ²  you.

At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi ¹  to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve him, and to formulate blessings ²  in his name, as they do to this very day.

Then Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and to all Israel’s elders.