³⁴ Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me,^(A) because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.^[a](B)

⁹ Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons;^(A) they are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to him.^[a]

⁶ If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord will choose,^{(A) 7} he may minister in the name^(B) of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord.

⁴ He appointed some of the Levites to minister^(A) before the ark of the Lord, to extol,^[a] thank, and praise the Lord, the God of Israel:

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)

The Return to Jerusalem

¹⁵ I assembled them at the canal that flows toward Ahava,^(A) and we camped there three days. When I checked among the people and the priests, I found no Levites^(B) there.

²⁴ And the leaders of the Levites^(A) were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua son of Kadmiel, and their associates, who stood opposite them to give praise and thanksgiving, one section responding to the other, as prescribed by David the man of God.^(B)