⁵ “Take the finest flour and bake twelve loaves of bread,^(A) using two-tenths of an ephah^[a](B) for each loaf. ⁶ Arrange them in two stacks, six in each stack, on the table of pure gold^(C) before the Lord. ⁷ By each stack put some pure incense^(D) as a memorial^[b] portion^(E) to represent the bread and to be a food offering presented to the Lord. ⁸ This bread is to be set out before the Lord regularly,^(F) Sabbath after Sabbath,^(G) on behalf of the Israelites, as a lasting covenant. ⁹ It belongs to Aaron and his sons,^(H) who are to eat it in the sanctuary area,^(I) because it is a most holy^(J) part of their perpetual share of the food offerings presented to the Lord.”

⁶ Therefore the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and said to him, “Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the Lord and by the assembly of Israel for the tent of the covenant law?”^(A)

⁹ A proclamation was then issued in Judah and Jerusalem that they should bring to the Lord the tax that Moses the servant of God had required of Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰ All the officials and all the people brought their contributions gladly,^(A) dropping them into the chest until it was full.