^29 (A)Remember them, O my God, because they have desecrated the priesthood ^(B)and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

^14 (A)Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also ^(B)the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.

⁴ So shall you know that I have sent ^(A)this command to you, that ^(B)my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. ⁵ My covenant with him was one of life and ^(C)peace, and I gave them to him. ^(D)It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. ^6 (E)True instruction^[a] was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he ^(F)turned many from iniquity. ⁷ For ^(G)the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people^[b] should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. ⁸ But you have turned aside from the way. ^(H)You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted ^(I)the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts,

¹² Therefore say, ^(A)‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, ¹³ and it shall be to him and to ^(B)his descendants after him the covenant of ^(C)a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’”

⁹ is it ^(A)too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has ^(B)separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, ¹⁰ and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also?

Holiness and the Priests

21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, ^(A)No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, ² except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, ³ or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). ⁴ He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. ^5 (B)They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. ⁶ They shall be holy to their God and ^(C)not profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord's food offerings, ^(D)the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. ^7 (E)They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman ^(F)divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.

^14 (A)Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; ^(B)the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.

Judah Profaned the Covenant

¹⁰ Have we not all ^(A)one Father? Has not ^(B)one God created us? Why then are we ^(C)faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? ¹¹ Judah has been ^(D)faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For ^(E)Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. ¹² May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant^[a] of the man who does this, who ^(F)brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!