The Priests and Levites Support Rehoboam^(A)

¹³ The priests and descendants of Levi throughout Israel also supported him in their districts, ¹⁴ because the descendants of Levi left their pasture lands and their property to live in Judah and Jerusalem, since Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them from participating in priestly services to the Lord. ¹⁵ Jeroboam had appointed his own priests to serve at the high places and to serve the satyrs^[a] and calves that he had made. ¹⁶ As a result, anyone from all of the tribes of Israel who was determined to seek the Lord God of Israel followed the descendants of Levi^[b] to Jerusalem so they could sacrifice to the Lord God of their ancestors, ¹⁷ and they continued to strengthen the kingdom of Judah, supporting Solomon’s son Rehoboam for three years, by living^[c] the way David and Solomon did for three years.