¹⁴ The Levites had left their pasturelands and possessions and had come to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had prevented them from serving as priests of the Lord^(A)

⁹ Have you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the descendants of Aaron, and the Levites and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes to be consecrated with a young bull or seven rams becomes a priest of what are no gods.^(A)

² “Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance that they possess, towns for the Levites to live in; you shall also give to the Levites pasturelands surrounding the towns.^{(A) 3} The towns shall be theirs to live in, and their pasturelands shall be for their cattle, for their livestock, and for all their animals. ⁴ The pasture lands of the towns, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the town outward a thousand cubits all around. ⁵ You shall measure, outside the town, for the east side two thousand cubits, for the south side two thousand cubits, for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, with the town in the middle; this shall belong to them as pastureland for their towns.

²⁸ So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. He said to the people,^[a] “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”^{(A) 29} He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.^{(B) 30} And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one at Bethel and before the other as far as Dan.^{[b](C) 31} He also made houses^[c] on high places and appointed priests from among all the people who were not Levites.^{(D) 32} Jeroboam appointed a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the festival that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar; so he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made.^{(E) 33} He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had selected on his own; he appointed a festival for the people of Israel, and he went up to the altar to offer incense.^(F)

⁶⁶ And some of the families of the sons of Kohath had towns of their territory out of the tribe of Ephraim.^{(A) 67} They were given the cities of refuge: Shechem with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, Gezer with its pasturelands,^{(B) 68} Jokmeam with its pasturelands, Beth-horon with its pasturelands,^{(C) 69} Aijalon with its pasturelands, Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands; ⁷⁰ and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Aner with its pasturelands, and Bileam with its pasturelands, for the rest of the families of the Kohathites.

⁷¹ To the Gershomites: out of the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands and Ashtaroth with its pasturelands; ⁷² and out of the tribe of Issachar: Kedesh with its pasturelands, Daberath^[a] with its pasturelands, ⁷³ Ramoth with its pasturelands, and Anem with its pasturelands;^{(D) 74} out of the tribe of Asher: Mashal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands, ⁷⁵ Hukok with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands; ⁷⁶ and out of the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands, Hammon with its pasturelands, and Kiriathaim with its pasturelands.^{(E) 77} To the rest of the Merarites out of the tribe of Zebulun: Rimmono with its pasturelands, Tabor with its pasturelands,^{(F) 78} and across the Jordan from Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, out of the tribe of Reuben: Bezer in the steppe with its pasturelands, Jahzah with its pasturelands, ⁷⁹ Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands; ⁸⁰ and out of the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, Mahanaim with its pasturelands, ⁸¹ Heshbon with its pasturelands, and Jazer with its pasturelands.