⁸ Now ^(A)while he was serving as priest before God when ^(B)his division was on duty,

¹⁴ According to the ruling of David his father, he appointed ^(A)the divisions of the priests for their service, ^(B)and the Levites for their offices of praise and ^(C)ministry before the priests ^(D)as the duty of each day required, and ^(E)the gatekeepers in their divisions at each gate, for so David ^(F)the man of God had commanded.

¹⁹ These had as their appointed duty in their service ^(A)to come into the house of the Lord according to the procedure established for them by Aaron their father, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him.

² And Hezekiah appointed ^(A)the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, division by division, each according to his service, the priests and the Levites, ^(B)for burnt offerings and peace offerings, to minister in the gates of the camp of the Lord and to give thanks and praise.

Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

^5 (A)In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah,^{[a] (B)}of ^(C)the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

¹⁸ And they set the priests ^(A)in their divisions and the Levites ^(B)in their divisions, for the service of God at Jerusalem, ^(C)as it is written in the Book of Moses.

¹⁹ And for the sons of Aaron, the priests, who were in the fields of common land belonging to their cities, there were men in the several cities who were ^(A)designated by name to distribute portions to every male among the priests and to everyone among the Levites who was enrolled.

¹⁴ For the Levites left ^(A)their common lands and their holdings and came to Judah and Jerusalem, ^(B)because Jeroboam and his sons cast them out from serving as priests of the Lord,

⁷ And ^(A)you and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and ^(B)that is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift,^[a] and ^(C)any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”