¹⁴ For the Levites left ^(A)their common-lands and their possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for ^(B)Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests to the Lord.

^9 (A)Have you not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests, like the peoples of other lands, ^(B)so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of ^(C)things that are not gods?

^2 (A)“Command the children of Israel that they give the Levites cities to dwell in from the inheritance of their possession, and you shall also give the Levites ^(B)common-land around the cities. ³ They shall have the cities to dwell in; and their common-land shall be for their cattle, for their herds, and for all their animals. ⁴ The common-land of the cities which you will give the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around. ⁵ And you shall measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, on the south side two thousand cubits, on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits. The city shall be in the middle. This shall belong to them as common-land for the cities.

²⁸ Therefore the king asked advice, ^(A)made two calves of gold, and said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. ^(B)Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!” ²⁹ And he set up one in ^(C)Bethel, and the other he put in ^(D)Dan. ³⁰ Now this thing became ^(E)a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. ³¹ He made ^[a]shrines on the high places, ^(F)and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

³² Jeroboam ^[b]ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like ^(G)the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. ^(H)And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made. ³³ So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had ^(I)devised in his own heart. And he ^[c]ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and ^(J)burned incense.

⁶⁶ Now ^(A)some of the families of the sons of Kohath were given cities as their territory from the tribe of Ephraim. ^67 (B)And they gave them one of the cities of refuge, Shechem with its common-lands, in the mountains of Ephraim, also Gezer with its common-lands, ^68 (C)Jokmeam with its common-lands, Beth Horon with its common-lands, ⁶⁹ Aijalon with its common-lands, and Gath Rimmon with its common-lands. ⁷⁰ And from the half-tribe of Manasseh: Aner with its common-lands and Bileam with its common-lands, for the rest of the family of the sons of Kohath.

⁷¹ From the family of the half-tribe of Manasseh the sons of Gershon were given Golan in Bashan with its common-lands and ^[a]Ashtaroth with its common-lands. ⁷² And from the tribe of Issachar: ^[b]Kedesh with its common-lands, Daberath with its common-lands, ⁷³ Ramoth with its common-lands, and Anem with its common-lands. ⁷⁴ And from the tribe of Asher: Mashal with its common-lands, Abdon with its common-lands, ⁷⁵ Hukok with its common-lands, and Rehob with its common-lands. ⁷⁶ And from the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its common-lands, Hammon with its common-lands, and Kirjathaim with its common-lands.

⁷⁷ From the tribe of Zebulun the rest of the children of Merari were given ^[c]Rimmon with its common-lands and Tabor with its common-lands. ⁷⁸ And on the other side of the Jordan, across from Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, they were given from the tribe of Reuben: Bezer in the wilderness with its common-lands, Jahzah with its common-lands, ⁷⁹ Kedemoth with its common-lands, and Mephaath with its common-lands. ⁸⁰ And from the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its common-lands, Mahanaim with its common-lands, ⁸¹ Heshbon with its common-lands, and Jazer with its common-lands.

^33 (A)After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again he made priests from every class of people for the high places; whoever wished, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.

^20 (A)And the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, the rest of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their ^[a]lot from the tribe of Ephraim. ²¹ For they gave them ^(B)Shechem with its common-land in the mountains of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the slayer), ^(C)Gezer with its common-land, ²² Kibzaim with its common-land, and Beth Horon with its common-land: four cities; ²³ and from the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with its common-land, Gibbethon with its common-land, ^24 (D)Aijalon with its common-land, and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: four cities; ²⁵ and from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with its common-land and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: two cities. ²⁶ All the ten cities with their common-lands were for the rest of the families of the children of Kohath.

^27 (E)Also to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, from the other half-tribe of Manasseh, they gave ^(F)Golan in Bashan with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), and Be Eshterah with its common-land: two cities; ²⁸ and from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its common-land, Daberath with its common-land, ²⁹ Jarmuth with its common-land, and En Gannim with its common-land: four cities; ³⁰ and from the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its common-land, Abdon with its common-land, ³¹ Helkath with its common-land, and Rehob with its common-land: four cities; ³² and from the tribe of Naphtali, ^(G)Kedesh in Galilee with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Hammoth Dor with its common-land, and Kartan with its common-land: three cities. ³³ All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their common-lands.

^34 (H)And to the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its common-land, Kartah with its common-land, ³⁵ Dimnah with its common-land, and Nahalal with its common-land: four cities; ^36 [b]and from the tribe of Reuben, ^(I)Bezer with its common-land, Jahaz with its common-land, ³⁷ Kedemoth with its common-land, and Mephaath with its common-land: four cities; ³⁸ and from the tribe of Gad, ^(J)Ramoth in Gilead with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Mahanaim with its common-land, ³⁹ Heshbon with its common-land, and Jazer with its common-land: four cities in all. ⁴⁰ So all the cities for the children of Merari according to their families, the rest of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities.

^41 (K)All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their common-lands. ⁴² Every one of these cities had its common-land surrounding it; thus were all these cities.

Tithes for Support of the Levites

²¹ “Behold, ^(A)I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as ^[a]an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, ^(B)the work of the tabernacle of meeting. ^22 (C)Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, ^(D)lest they bear sin and die. ²³ But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. ²⁴ For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to the Lord, I have given to the Levites ^[b]as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.’ ”

The Tithe of the Levites

²⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶ “Speak thus to the Levites, and say to them: ‘When you take from the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall offer up a heave offering of it to the Lord, ^(E)a tenth of the tithe. ²⁷ And your heave offering shall be reckoned to you as though it were the grain of the ^(F)threshing floor and as the fullness of the winepress. ²⁸ Thus you shall also offer a heave offering to the Lord from all your tithes which you receive from the children of Israel, and you shall give the Lord’s heave offering from it to Aaron the priest.

³⁰ And ^(A)all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s. It is holy to the Lord. ^31 (B)If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one-fifth to it. ³² And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever ^(C)passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. ³³ He shall not inquire whether it is good or bad, ^(D)nor shall he exchange it; and if he exchanges it at all, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.’ ”

^34 (E)These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount ^(F)Sinai.