¹⁹ Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.^(A)

⁴ He commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, so that they might devote themselves to the law of the Lord.^{(A) 5} As soon as the word spread, the people of Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field, and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.^{(B) 6} The people of Israel and Judah who lived in the cities of Judah also brought in the tithe of cattle and sheep and the tithe of the dedicated things that had been consecrated to the Lord their God and laid them in heaps.^{(C) 7} In the third month they began to pile up the heaps and finished them in the seventh month. ⁸ When Hezekiah and the officials came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord and his people Israel. ⁹ Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the heaps. ¹⁰ The chief priest Azariah, who was of the house of Zadok, answered him, “Since they began to bring the contributions into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and have plenty to spare, for the Lord has blessed his people, so that we have this great supply left over.”^(D)

Reorganization of Priests and Levites

¹¹ Then Hezekiah commanded them to prepare store chambers in the house of the Lord, and they prepared them. ¹² Faithfully they brought in the contributions, the tithes, and the dedicated things. The chief officer in charge of them was Conaniah the Levite, with his brother Shimei as second; ¹³ while Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers assisting Conaniah and his brother Shimei, by the appointment of King Hezekiah and of Azariah the chief officer of the house of God.^{(E) 14} Kore son of Imnah the Levite, keeper of the east gate, was in charge of the freewill offerings to God, to apportion the contribution reserved for the Lord and the most holy offerings. ¹⁵ Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah were faithfully assisting him in the cities of the priests, to distribute the portions to their kindred, old and young alike, by divisions,^{(F) 16} except those enrolled by genealogy, males from three years old and up, all who entered the house of the Lord as the duty of each day required, for their service according to their offices, by their divisions.^{(G) 17} The enrollment of the priests was according to their ancestral houses; that of the Levites from twenty years old and up was according to their offices, by their divisions.^{(H) 18} They were enrolled with all their little children, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, the whole multitude, for they were faithful in keeping themselves holy. ¹⁹ And for the descendants of Aaron, the priests, who were in the fields of pastureland belonging to their towns, town by town, the people designated by name were to distribute portions to every male among the priests and to everyone among the Levites who was enrolled.^(I)

²⁰ Hezekiah did this throughout all Judah; he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God.^{(J) 21} And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, to seek his God, he did with all his heart, and he prospered.

³⁴ We have also cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, by ancestral houses, at appointed times, year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the law.^{(A) 35} We obligate ourselves to bring the first fruits of our soil and the first fruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord;^{(B) 36} also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and of our livestock, as it is written in the law, and the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks;^{(C) 37} and to bring the first of our dough, and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our soil, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our rural towns.^{(D) 38} And the priest, the descendant of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes, and the Levites shall bring up a tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse.^{(E) 39} For the Israelites and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the storerooms where the vessels of the sanctuary are and where the priests who minister and the gatekeepers and the singers are. We will not neglect the house of our God.^(F)

Priests and Levites Support Rehoboam

¹³ The priests and the Levites who were in all Israel presented themselves to him from all their territories. 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)

¹⁰ Or does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was indeed written for our sake, for whoever plows should plow in hope and whoever threshes should thresh in hope of a share in the crop. ¹¹ If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we harvest material^[a] things?^{(A) 12} If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we still more?

Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.^{(B) 13} Do you not know that those who work in the temple service get their food from the temple and those who serve at the altar share in what is sacrificed on the altar?^{(C) 14} In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.^(D)

²⁷ As for the Levites resident in your towns, do not neglect them, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you.^(A)

²⁸ “Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your produce for that year and store it within your towns;^{(B) 29} the Levites, because they have no allotment or inheritance with you, as well as the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work that you undertake.^(C)