'Priests' in the Bible

The prefects did not know where I had gone and what I was doing. I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the prefects, and the rest of the workers.

Then Eliashib the high priest and his brothers the priests arose and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and erected its doors. They consecrated it up to the Tower of the Hundred and up to the Tower of Hananel.

After him the priests, men from the vicinity, repaired.

Above the Horse Gate the priests repaired, each one opposite his house.

So they said, "We will restore it and will not request [anything more]. So we will do as you say." Then I called the priests and made them take an oath to do this promise.

The priests: The descendants of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three.

And from the priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, the descendants of Barzillai (who had taken as a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by their name).

So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel settled in their cities. When the seventh month came, the {Israelites} [were] in their cities.

On the second day the heads of the {families} of all the people, the priests, and the Levites gathered together to Ezra the scribe to study the words of the law.

"And now our God, the great, mighty, and awesome God who keeps [his] covenant and loyal love, do not belittle in your presence all of the hardship that is found in us, our kings, our officials, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all of our people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.

Our kings, our officials, our priests, and our ancestors did not keep your law and did not listen to your commandments and statutes that you declared to them.

"Now because of all of this we make a binding written agreement and are writing on the sealed documents [the names of] our commanders, our Levites, and our priests."

Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah--these are the priests.

"The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to [observe] the law of God--their wives, their sons, their daughters, and all who know and understand--

And we have cast lots for the contributions of the wood offering of the priests, the Levites, and the people to bring [it] to the house of our God, by our fathers' houses, at designated times, year by year, to burn on the altar of Yahweh our God--as it is written in the law.

And the firstborn of our sons and beasts--as it is written in the law--and the firstborn of our cattle and sheep, to bring to the house of our God [and] to the priests serving in the house of our God.

And we bring the best of our dough, our offerings, the fruit of every tree, new wine, and olive oil to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and [to bring] the tithe of our soil to the Levites, for the Levites [receive] the tithes in all of our rural towns.

For the {Israelites} and the {Levites} will bring to the storerooms the offering of grain, new wine, and olive oil. These are the objects of the sanctuary and the priests who minister and the gatekeepers and singers. We will not neglect the house of our God."

These are the heads of the province who lived in Jerusalem, but in the cities of Judah each one lived on his property in their cities: Israel, the priests, the Levites, the temple servants, and the descendants of Solomon's servants.

From the priests: Jedaiah son of Jehoiarib, Jakin,

And the remainder of Israel, the priests and the Levites, in all of the cities of Judah, each in his inheritance.

These [are] the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These [are] the heads of the priests and their brothers in the days of Jeshua.

Now in the days of Jehoiakim the priests and the heads of the {families} were: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;

In the days of Eliashib, Jehoiada, Jehohanan, and Jaddua the Levites were recorded as heads of the {families}. So [these were] the priests [during] the reign of Darius the Persian.

And the priests and the Levites purified themselves and purified the people, the gates, and the wall.

and the {priests} with trumpets; Zechariah son of Jehonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph;

and the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah with the trumpets;

On that day men were appointed for the storehouse rooms, the offerings, the first fruits, and the tithes, in order to gather in them from the fields of the cities the requirements of the law for the priests and Levites; for the joy of Judah [was] upon the priests and Levites standing there.

prepared for [Tobiah] a large chamber where they had formerly put the grain offering, the frankincense, the [temple] objects, tithes of grain, wine, and oil commanded for the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the offerings of the priests.

So I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established responsibilities for the priests and Levites, each in his own work,

He leads priests away stripped, and he overthrows {the members of ancient families}.

His priests fell by the sword, and his widows did not weep.

Moses and Aaron [were] among his priests; Samuel also [was] among [those who] called on his name. They called to Yahweh, and he answered them.

Let your priests clothe themselves with righteousness, and let your faithful sing for joy.

I will also clothe its priests with salvation, and its faithful will shout exuberantly for joy.

And he sent Eliakim, who [was] {in charge of} the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and the elders of the priests {covered} with sackcloth to Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet.

who frustrates [the] signs of oracle priests and makes a fool of diviners, who drives [the] wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish,

But you shall be called the priests of Yahweh, {you will be called} servers of our God. You shall eat [the] wealth of [the] nations, and you shall boast in their riches.

And indeed, I will take some of them as priests [and] the Levites," says Yahweh.

The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, among the priests who [were] in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin,

Now look, I have made you {today} as a fortified city and as an iron pillar and a bronze wall against all the land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.

The priests did not say, 'Where [is] Yahweh?' and those who handle the law did not know me, and the shepherds have {rebelled against me}, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they went after [things which] do not profit.

As [the] shame of a thief when he is caught in the act, so the house of Israel will be ashamed. They, their kings, their officials, and their priests, and their prophets.

And then on that day," {declares} Yahweh, "the heart of the king and the heart of the officials will be destroyed, and the priests will be appalled, and the prophets will be astonished."

The prophets prophesy {falsely}, and the priests rule {by their own authority}, and my people love [it] so much. But what will you do {when the end comes}?

"At that time," {declares} Yahweh, "they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its officials, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Judah from their graves.

Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh: "Look, I [am] about to fill all the inhabitants of this land, and the kings who sit on David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem [with] drunkenness.

Thus said Yahweh, "Go and buy a potter's earthenware jar, and [take] some of the elders of the people, and some of the leaders of the priests,

And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the temple of Yahweh.

{And then} as Jeremiah finished speaking all that Yahweh had commanded [him] to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, {saying}, "You will die!

Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, {saying}, "{This man deserves the death sentence}, because he has prophesied against this city as that [which] you have heard with your ears."

Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, "{This man does not deserve} a sentence of death, for in the name of Yahweh our God, he has spoken to us."

Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, {saying}, "Thus says Yahweh, 'You must not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, {saying}, "Look, the vessels of the house of Yahweh [are] about to be quickly brought back from Babylon", for they [are] prophesying a lie to you.

And it was in that [same] year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, the king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah, the son of Azzur, the prophet who [was] from Gibeon, said to me in the house of Yahweh before the eyes of the priests and all the people, {saying},

Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet before the eyes of the priests and before the eyes of all the people who were standing in the house of Yahweh,

And these [are] the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the exiles, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had deported from Jerusalem [to] Babylon,

"Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, {saying}, 'Because you yourself sent letter in your name to all the people who [are] in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, {saying},

And I will saturate the appetite of the priests [with] fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness," {declares} Yahweh.

because of all the evil of the people of Israel and the people of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger--they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And for the priests, a man from the Levites [who] offers burnt offerings and [who] burns grain offerings and [who] brings sacrifices will not be cut off {before me} {forever}.'"

then my covenant could be broken with David my servant, from {having} a son who could rule on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, my ministers.

the officials of Judah, and the officials of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf--

For because of your trusting in your works and in your treasures, even you yourselves will be taken, and Chemosh will go out into the exile, his priests and his officials together.

"Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated. Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, put on sackcloth. Lament and run back and forth among the walls. For Milcom will go into exile, his priests and his officials together.

A sword against the oracle priests, and they will become foolish. A sword against her warriors, and they will be filled with terror.

The roads of Zion [are] mourning because no one comes to the festival. All her gates [are] desolate, her priests groan; her young women [are] worried, and she herself suffers bitterly.

I have called to my lovers, they themselves deceived me; my priests and elders perished in the city when they sought food for themselves to revive their life.

Because of the sins of her prophets, the guilt of her priests, who shed blood in her midst, of righteous people.

The presence of Yahweh has scattered them, he will no longer watch over them; {they did not honor the priests}, they did not show mercy [to] elders.

Its priests treat my law violently, and they profane my holy objects; they do not distinguish between holy object and what is unholy, or between the clean and the unclean. They do not teach the difference, and they hide their eyes from my Sabbaths, and [so] I am profaned in the midst of them.

And he said to me, "This chamber {with its face toward the south} [is] for the priests [who are] taking care of the responsibility of the temple.

And the chamber {with its face to the north} [is] for the priests [who are] taking care of the responsibility of the altar. They [are] the descendants of Zadok, the [ones who] approach [from among] the descendants of Levi to Yahweh to serve him."

And he said to me, "The chambers of the north [and] the chambers of the south which [are] {before} the courtyard, they {are the holy chambers} in which the priests, who [are] near to Yahweh, will eat the {most holy objects}. There they shall put the {most holy objects}, and the grain offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering, for the place [is] holy.

{When the priests enter}, then they shall not go out from the sanctuary to the outer courtyard; and there they must put their garments in which they serve because they [are] holy. They must put on other garments and [then] they may approach [the area] that [is] for the people.

And you must give to the Levitical priests who [are] from the offspring of Zadok, the [ones] [coming] near me," {declares} the Lord Yahweh, "to serve me, a bull, {a calf} as sin offering.

And you must bring them near {before} Yahweh, and the priests must throw salt on them, and they must offer them [as] a burnt offering to Yahweh.

And they will finish the days, {and then} on the eighth day and beyond [that] the priests will offer on the altar your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings, and [then] I will be pleased with you," {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok, who cared for the responsibility of my sanctuary {when the Israelites went astray} from me, they will approach me to serve me, and they will stand {before me} to offer to me fat and blood," {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

Any dead body or mangled carcass from the birds or from the animals, the priests shall not eat."

It [is] a holy portion from the land; it will be for the priests, the servants of the sanctuary {who approach} to serve Yahweh, and it will be for them a place for houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.

And the prince shall come [by] way of the portico of the gate from [the] outside, and he shall stand at the doorframe of the gate and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his fellowship offerings, and he shall bow down at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be closed until the evening.

Then he brought me through the entrance which [was] on the side of the gate {to the holy chambers} to the priests; [the chambers] were facing northwards and, look, there [was] a place at the extreme end westwards.

And he said to me, "This [is] the place where the priests will boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, [and] where they shall bake the grain offering [in order] not to bring [them] out to the outer courtyard to make the people holy.

And to these shall be {the holy district}: to the priests northwards twenty-five thousand [cubits], and westwards [its] width ten thousand [cubits], and eastwards [its] width ten thousand [cubits], and southwards its length twenty-five thousand [cubits], and the sanctuary of Yahweh shall be in the midst of it.

To the priests, the [ones] being consecrated from the descendants of Zadok, who took care of my service [and] who {did not go astray} {when the Israelites went astray}, {just as} the Levites went astray.

And the Levites {alongside} the territory of the priests [shall have] twenty-five thousand [cubits] [in] length and in width ten thousand [cubits], its {full length}, twenty-five thousand [cubits] and its [full width], ten thousand [cubits].

Hear this, priests! Give heed, house of Israel! Listen, house of the king! Because the judgment [applies] to you; because you have been a snare for Mizpah, and a net spread out on Tabor;

Like bandits lying in wait, [so is] a band of priests; they murder [on the] road to Shechem; indeed, they commit a monstrous crime.

The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, his people will mourn for it, and his idolatrous priests will wail over it-- over its glory because it has departed from it.

The offering and libation are withheld from the house of Yahweh. The priests mourn, the ministers of Yahweh.

Gird yourselves and lament, O priests! Wail, ministers of [the] altar! Come spend the night in sackcloth, ministers of my God, because offering and libation are withheld from the house of your God.

Between the colonnade and the altar, let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep. And let them say, "Take pity, Yahweh, on your people. Do not make your inheritance a reproach, a byword among [the] nations. Why should they say among the nations, 'Where [is] their God?'"

Its rulers judge for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money. But they lean on Yahweh, saying, "[Is] not Yahweh in our midst? Disaster will not come upon us."

"And I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal, and the name of idolatrous priests with the priests,

Her prophets [are] arrogant men of treachery; her priests have defiled [that which is] holy; they do violence to [the] law.

"Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'Ask now the priests [for] a ruling:

If a man carries consecrated meat in the hem of his garment, and his hem touches bread, or stew, or wine, or olive oil, or any kind of food, will it become holy?'" The priests answered, "No."

Then Haggai said, "If one who is unclean from contact with a corpse touches any of these, will it become unclean?" The priests answered, "Yes, it will be become unclean."

saying to the {priests of the house of Yahweh of hosts} and to the prophets, "Should I mourn in the fifth month and keep myself separate as I have done for these many years?"