Immerse: Chronicles Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 146
134
IMMERSE
•
CHRONICLES
10:32–11:4
day, we will refuse to buy it. Every seventh year we will let our land
rest, and we will cancel all debts owed to us.
“In addition, we promise to obey the command to pay the annual
Temple tax of one-eighth of an ounce of silver for the care of the
Temple of our God. This will provide for the Bread of the Presence;
for the regular grain offerings and burnt offerings; for the offerings
on the Sabbaths, the new moon celebrations, and the annual festivals;
for the holy offerings; and for the sin offerings to make atonement
for Israel. It will provide for everything necessary for the work of the
Temple of our God.
“We have cast sacred lots to determine when—at regular times each
year—the families of the priests, Levites, and the common people
should bring wood to God’s Temple to be burned on the altar of the
Lord our God, as is written in the Law.
“We promise to bring the first part of every harvest to the Lord’s
Temple year after year—whether it be a crop from the soil or from
our fruit trees. We agree to give God our oldest sons and the firstborn
of all our herds and flocks, as prescribed in the Law. We will present
them to the priests who minister in the Temple of our God. We will
store the produce in the storerooms of the Temple of our God. We
will bring the best of our flour and other grain offerings, the best of
our fruit, and the best of our new wine and olive oil. And we promise
to bring to the Levites a tenth of everything our land produces, for it is
the Levites who collect the tithes in all our rural towns.
“A priest—a descendant of Aaron—will be with the Levites as they
receive these tithes. And a tenth of all that is collected as tithes will be
delivered by the Levites to the Temple of our God and placed in the
storerooms. The people and the Levites must bring these offerings of
grain, new wine, and olive oil to the storerooms and place them in the
sacred containers near the ministering priests, the gatekeepers, and
the singers.
“We promise together not to neglect the Temple of our God.”
The leaders of the people were living in Jerusalem, the holy city. A tenth of
the people from the other towns of Judah and Benjamin were chosen by
sacred lots to live there, too, while the rest stayed where they were. And the
people commended everyone who volunteered to resettle in Jerusalem.
Here is a list of the names of the provincial officials who came to live
in Jerusalem. (Most of the people, priests, Levites, Temple servants, and
descendants of Solomon’s servants continued to live in their own homes
in the various towns of Judah, but some of the people from Judah and
Benjamin resettled in Jerusalem.)
ImmerseChronicles_NLT.indd 134
6/21/2017 10:01:38 AM
