⁸ Now you expect to withstand the kingdom of Adonai in the hands of the descendants of David. Yes, there are a great number of you, and you have with you the gold calves that Yarov‘am made as gods for you. ⁹ Yes, you drove out the cohanim of Adonai, the descendants of Aharon, and the L’vi’im; and you made yourselves priests as do the peoples in other countries, so that anyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams can become a priest of those non-gods.

¹⁰ “But we are different. Adonai is our God, and we have not abandoned him. We have cohanim performing the service for Adonai, descendants of Aharon. With the L’vi’im doing their work,