He also made ten basins in which to wash, and he set five on the right side and five on the left to rinse things for the burnt offering; but the Sea was for the priests to wash in.

Then he made the courtyard of the priests and the great courtyard, and doors for the courtyard, and overlaid their doors with bronze.

They brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy utensils that were in the tent. The Levitical priests brought them up.

Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim.

The Glory of God Fills the Temple

When the priests came out from the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without regard to divisions),

and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and kinsmen, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, standing east of the altar, and with them 120 priests blowing trumpets

so that the priests could not rise to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.

“Now then arise, Lord God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might; let Your priests, Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your godly ones rejoice in what is good.

And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house.

The priests stood at their posts, and the Levites also, with the musical instruments for the Lord, which King David had made for giving praise to the Lord—“for His faithfulness is everlasting”—whenever David gave praise through their ministry; the priests on the other side blew trumpets and all Israel was standing.

Now according to the ordinance of his father David, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their duties of praise and ministering before the priests according to the daily rule, and the gatekeepers by their divisions at every gate; for this is what David, the man of God, had commanded.

And they did not deviate from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites in any matter or regarding the storehouses.

Moreover, the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel also stood with him from all their districts.

Jeroboam Appoints False Priests

For the Levites left their pasture lands and their property and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them from serving as priests to the Lord.

He set up priests of his own for the high places, for the satyrs and the calves which he had made.

Have you not driven out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and made for yourselves priests like the peoples of other lands? Whoever comes to consecrate himself with a bull and seven rams, even he may become a priest of things that are not gods.

But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not abandoned Him; and the sons of Aaron are ministering to the Lord as priests, and the Levites attend to their work.

Now behold, God is with us at our head, and His priests with the signal trumpets to sound the war cry against you. Sons of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”

When Judah turned around, behold, they were attacked both from front and rear; so they cried out to the Lord, and the priests blew the trumpets.

and with them the Levites, Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, the Levites; and with them the priests Elishama and Jehoram.

In Jerusalem Jehoshaphat also appointed some of the Levites and priests, and some of the heads of the fathers’ households of Israel, for the judgment of the Lord, and to judge disputes among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

This is the thing which you shall do: a third of you, of the priests and Levites who come in on the Sabbath, shall be gatekeepers,

But no one is to enter the house of the Lord except the priests and the ministering Levites; they may enter, for they are holy. And all the people are to keep the command of the Lord.

Moreover, Jehoiada placed the offices of the house of the Lord under the authority of the Levitical priests, whom David had assigned over the house of the Lord, to offer the burnt offerings of the Lord, as it is written in the Law of Moses—with rejoicing and singing according to the order of David.

Faithless Priests

Now it came about after this that Joash decided to restore the house of the Lord.