⁴ And ye have known that I have sent unto you this charge, For My covenant being with Levi, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

¹² `And I, lo, I have taken the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel instead of every first-born opening a womb among the sons of Israel, and the Levites have been Mine;

² every branch in me not bearing fruit, He doth take it away, and every one bearing fruit, He doth cleanse by pruning it, that it may bear more fruit;

¹¹ And the dust that hath cleaved to us, from your city, we do wipe off against you, but this know ye, that the reign of God hath come nigh to you;

¹² whose fan `is' in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor, and will gather his wheat to the storehouse, but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.'

⁹ `Thus said the Lord Jehovah: No son of a stranger, uncircumcised of heart, and uncircumcised of flesh, cometh in unto My sanctuary, even any son of a stranger, who `is' in the midst of the sons of Israel,

¹⁰ but -- the Levites who have gone far off from me, in the wandering of Israel when they went astray from Me after their idols, and they have borne their iniquity.

¹¹ And they have been in My sanctuary ministrants, overseers at the gates of the house, and ministrants at the house; they slay the burnt-offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they stand before them to serve them.

¹² Because that they serve them before their idols, and have been to the house of Israel for a stumbling-block of iniquity, therefore I have lifted up my hand against them -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah -- and they have borne their iniquity.

¹³ And they draw not nigh unto Me to act as My priest, and to draw nigh unto any of My holy things, unto the holy of holies, and they have borne their shame and their abominations that they have done,

¹⁴ and I made them keepers of the charge of the house, for all its service and for all that is done in it.

¹⁵ `And the priests, the Levites, sons of Zadok, who have kept the charge of My sanctuary in the wandering of the sons of Israel from off Me, they draw near unto Me to serve Me, and have stood before Me, to bring near to Me fat and blood -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah:

¹⁶ they come in unto My sanctuary, and they draw near unto My table to serve Me, and they have kept My charge.

²³ And I have magnified Myself, and sanctified Myself, And I have been known before the eyes of many nations, And they have known that I `am' Jehovah!

³³ And in its coming in -- lo, it hath come, And they have known that a prophet hath been in their midst!'

³⁸ And cleared out from you the rebels, And them transgressing against Me, From the land of their sojournings I bring them out, And unto the land of Israel they come not, And ye have known that I `am' Jehovah.

³⁹ And ye, O house of Israel, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Each his idols -- go -- serve ye, And, afterwards, if ye are not hearkening to me, And My holy name ye do not pollute any more by your gifts, and by your idols.

⁴⁰ For, in My holy mountain, In the mountain of the height of Israel, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, There serve Me do all the house of Israel, All of it, in the land -- there I accept them, And there I do seek your heave-offerings, And with the first-fruit of your gifts, With all your holy things.

⁴¹ With sweet fragrance I do accept you, In My bringing you out from the peoples, And I have assembled you from the lands In which ye have been scattered, And I have been sanctified in you Before the eyes of the nations.

⁹ The prophet who doth prophesy of peace -- by the coming in of the word of the prophet, known is the prophet that Jehovah hath truly sent him.'

⁹ Therefore by this is the iniquity of Jacob covered, And this `is' all the fruit -- To take away his sin, in His setting all the stones of an altar, As chalkstones beaten in pieces, They rise not -- shrines and images.

¹¹ O Jehovah, high `is' Thy hand -- they see not, They see the zeal of the people, and are ashamed, Also, the fire -- Thine adversaries, consumeth them.

²⁴ Therefore -- the affirmation of the Lord -- Jehovah of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Ah, I am eased of Mine adversaries, And I am avenged of Mine enemies,

²⁵ And I turn back My hand upon thee, And I refine as purity thy dross, And I turn aside all thy tin,

²⁶ And I give back thy judges as at the first, And thy counsellors as in the beginning, After this thou art called, `A city of righteousness -- a faithful city.'

²⁷ Zion in judgment is redeemed, And her captivity in righteousness.

²⁸ And the destruction of transgressors and sinners `is' together, And those forsaking Jehovah are consumed.

²⁹ Be mindful of them, O my God, for the redeemed of the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.

²⁵ And Micaiah saith, `Lo, thou art seeing on that day, when thou goest in to the innermost chamber to be hidden.'

⁴⁵ `Take the Levites instead of every first-born among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites have been Mine; I `am' Jehovah.