⁴ “Go up to Hilkiah^(A) the high priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the Lord, which the doorkeepers have collected^(B) from the people.

⁴ The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers^(A) to remove^(B) from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel.

¹⁹ He also stationed gatekeepers^(A) at the gates of the Lord’s temple so that no one who was in any way unclean might enter.

⁷⁰ The priests, the Levites, the musicians, the gatekeepers and the temple servants settled in their own towns, along with some of the other people, and the rest of the Israelites settled in their towns.^(A)

⁷ Some of the Israelites, including priests, Levites, musicians, gatekeepers and temple servants, also came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.^(A)

7 After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers,^(A) the musicians^(B) and the Levites^(C) were appointed.

Ezra Reads the Law

When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns,^(C)