² Then David said, “No one may carry the ^(A)ark of God but the Levites, for ^(B)the Lord has chosen them to carry the ark of God and to minister before Him forever.”

⁸ At that time ^(A)the Lord ^[a]separated the tribe of Levi ^(B)to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, ^(C)to stand before the Lord to minister to Him and ^(D)to bless in His name, to this day.

¹⁷ “For thus says the Lord: ‘David shall never ^(A)lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; ¹⁸ nor shall the ^(B)priests, the Levites, lack a man to ^(C)offer burnt offerings before Me, to ^[a]kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.’ ”

The Permanence of God’s Covenant

¹⁹ And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁰ “Thus says the Lord: ‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, ²¹ then ^(D)My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers. ²² As ^(E)the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I ^(F)multiply the descendants of David My servant and the ^(G)Levites who minister to Me.’ ”

The Law to Be Read Every Seven Years

⁹ So Moses wrote this law ^(A)and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, ^(B)who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.