⁸ You shall command ^(A)the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, ^(B)you shall stand in the Jordan.’ ”

¹⁷ Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; ^(A)and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.

³ and they commanded the people, saying, ^(A)“When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, ^(B)and the priests, the Levites, ^[a]bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it.

²⁸ And one of the sons ^(A)of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of ^(B)Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I drove him from me.

²² And I commanded the Levites that ^(A)they should cleanse themselves, and that they should go and guard the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day.

Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of Your mercy!

²⁴ And the heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers across from them, to ^(A)praise and give thanks, ^(B)group^[a] alternating with group, ^(C)according to the command of David the man of God. ²⁵ Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers keeping the watch at the storerooms of the gates. ²⁶ These lived in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of ^[b]Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah ^(D)the governor, and of Ezra the priest, ^(E)the scribe.

Nehemiah Dedicates the Wall

²⁷ Now at ^(F)the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, ^(G)both with thanksgivings and singing, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps. ²⁸ And the sons of the singers gathered together from the countryside around Jerusalem, from the ^(H)villages of the Netophathites,

² And he set the priests in their ^(A)duties and ^(B)encouraged them for the service of the house of the Lord. ³ Then he said to the Levites ^(C)who taught all Israel, who were holy to the Lord: ^(D)“Put the holy ark ^(E)in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. ^(F)It shall no longer be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel. ⁴ Prepare yourselves ^(G)according to your fathers’ ^[a]houses, according to your divisions, following the ^(H)written instruction of David king of Israel and the ^(I)written instruction of Solomon his son. ⁵ And ^(J)stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of your brethren the lay people, and according to the division of the father’s house of the Levites. ⁶ So slaughter the Passover offerings, ^(K)consecrate yourselves, and prepare them for your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.”

⁹ Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. ¹⁰ And Azariah the chief priest, from the ^(A)house of Zadok, answered him and said, ^(B)“Since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and have plenty left, for the Lord has blessed His people; and what is left is this great ^(C)abundance.”