1 Chronicles 23-25

The Levites

Chapter 23

When David was old and full of years, he made his son Solomon king over Israel.

²He also gathered together all the leaders of Israel, as well as the priests and Levites. ³The Levites thirty years old or more were counted, and the total number of men was thirty-eight thousand. ⁴David said, “Of these, twenty-four thousand are to be in charge of the work of the temple of the Lord and six thousand are to be officials and judges.⁵Four thousand are to be gatekeepers and four thousand are to praise the Lord with the musical instruments I have provided for that purpose.”

⁶David separated the Levites into divisions corresponding to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

Gershonites

⁷Belonging to the Gershonites:

Ladan and Shimei.

⁸The sons of Ladan:

Jehiel the first, Zetham and Joel—three in all.

⁹The sons of Shimei:

Shelomoth, Haziel and Haran—three in all.

These were the heads of the families of Ladan.

¹⁰And the sons of Shimei:

Jahath, Ziza,^[a] Jeush and Beriah.

These were the sons of Shimei—four in all.

¹¹Jahath was the first and Ziza the second, but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons; so they were counted as one family with one assignment.

Kohathites

¹²The sons of Kohath:

Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel—four in all.

¹³The sons of Amram:

Aaron and Moses.

Aaron was set apart, he and his descendants forever, to consecrate the most holy things, to offer sacrifices before the Lord, to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in his name forever. ¹⁴The sons of Moses the man of God were counted as part of the tribe of Levi.

¹⁵The sons of Moses:

Gershom and Eliezer.

¹⁶The descendants of Gershom:

Shubael was the first.

¹⁷The descendants of Eliezer:

Rehabiah was the first.

Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very numerous.

¹⁸The sons of Izhar:

Shelomith was the first.

¹⁹The sons of Hebron:

Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third and Jekameam the fourth.

²⁰The sons of Uzziel:

Micah the first and Ishiah the second.

Merarites

²¹The sons of Merari:

Mahli and Mushi.

The sons of Mahli:

Eleazar and Kish.

²²Eleazar died without having sons: he had only daughters. Their cousins, the sons of Kish, married them.

²³The sons of Mushi:

Mahli, Eder and Jerimoth—three in all.

²⁴These were the descendants of Levi by their families—the heads of families as they were registered under their names and counted individually, that is, the workers twenty years old or more who served in the temple of the Lord. ²⁵For David had said, “Since the Lord, the God of Israel, has granted rest to his people and has come to dwell in Jerusalem forever, ²⁶the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the articles used in its service.” ²⁷According to the last instructions of David, the Levites were counted from those twenty years old or more.

²⁸The duty of the Levites was to help Aaron’s descendants in the service of the temple of the Lord: to be in charge of the courtyards, the side rooms, the purification of all sacred things and the performance of other duties at the house of God. ²⁹They were in charge of the bread set out on the table, the special flour for the grain offerings, the thin loaves made without yeast, the baking and the mixing, and all measurements of quantity and size. ³⁰They were also to stand every morning to thank and praise theLord. They were to do the same in the evening ³¹and whenever burnt offerings were presented to the Lord on the Sabbaths, at the New Moon feasts and at the appointed festivals. They were to serve before the Lord regularly in the proper number and in the way prescribed for them.

³²And so the Levites carried out their responsibilities for the tent of meeting, for the Holy Place and, under their relatives the descendants of Aaron, for the service of the temple of the Lord.

The Divisions of Priests

Chapter 24

These were the divisions of the descendants of Aaron:

The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ²But Nadab and Abihu died before their father did, and they had no sons; so Eleazar and Ithamar served as the priests. ³With the help of Zadok a descendant of Eleazar and Ahimelek a descendant of Ithamar, David separated them into divisions for their appointed order of ministering. ⁴A larger number of leaders were found among Eleazar’s descendants than among Ithamar’s, and they were divided accordingly: sixteen heads of families from Eleazar’s descendants and eight heads of families from Ithamar’s descendants. ⁵They divided them impartially by casting lots, for there were officials of the sanctuary and officials of God among the descendants of both Eleazar and Ithamar.

⁶The scribe Shemaiah son of Nethanel, a Levite, recorded their names in the presence of the king and of the officials: Zadok the priest, Ahimelek son of Abiathar and the heads of families of the priests and of the Levites—one family being taken from Eleazar and then one from Ithamar.

⁷The first lot fell to Jehoiarib,

the second to Jedaiah,

⁸the third to Harim,

the fourth to Seorim,

⁹the fifth to Malkijah,

the sixth to Mijamin,

¹⁰the seventh to Hakkoz,

the eighth to Abijah,

¹¹the ninth to Jeshua,

the tenth to Shekaniah,

¹²the eleventh to Eliashib,

the twelfth to Jakim,

¹³the thirteenth to Huppah,

the fourteenth to Jeshebeab,

¹⁴the fifteenth to Bilgah,

the sixteenth to Immer,

¹⁵the seventeenth to Hezir,

the eighteenth to Happizzez,

¹⁶the nineteenth to Pethahiah,

the twentieth to Jehezkel,

¹⁷the twenty-first to Jakin,

the twenty-second to Gamul,

¹⁸the twenty-third to Delaiah

and the twenty-fourth to Maaziah.

¹⁹This was their appointed order of ministering when they entered the temple of the Lord, according to the regulations prescribed for them by their ancestor Aaron, as theLord, the God of Israel, had commanded him.

The Rest of the Levites

²⁰As for the rest of the descendants of Levi:

from the sons of Amram: Shubael;

from the sons of Shubael: Jehdeiah.

²¹As for Rehabiah, from his sons:

Ishiah was the first.

²²From the Izharites: Shelomoth;

from the sons of Shelomoth: Jahath.

²³The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the first,^[b] Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third and Jekameam the fourth.

²⁴The son of Uzziel: Micah;

from the sons of Micah: Shamir.

²⁵The brother of Micah: Ishiah;

from the sons of Ishiah: Zechariah.

²⁶The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi.

The son of Jaaziah: Beno.

²⁷The sons of Merari:

from Jaaziah: Beno, Shoham, Zakkur and Ibri.

²⁸From Mahli: Eleazar, who had no sons.

²⁹From Kish: the son of Kish:

Jerahmeel.

³⁰And the sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder and Jerimoth.

These were the Levites, according to their families. ³¹They also cast lots, just as their relatives the descendants of Aaron did, in the presence of King David and of Zadok, Ahimelek, and the heads of families of the priests and of the Levites. The families of the oldest brother were treated the same as those of the youngest.

The Musicians

Chapter 25

David, together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals. Here is the list of the men who performed this service:

²From the sons of Asaph:

Zakkur, Joseph, Nethaniah and Asarelah. The sons of Asaph were under the supervision of Asaph, who prophesied under the king’s supervision.

³As for Jeduthun, from his sons:

Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei,^[c] Hashabiah and Mattithiah, six in all, under the supervision of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied, using the harp in thanking and praising the Lord.

⁴As for Heman, from his sons:

Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shubael and Jerimoth; Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti and Romamti-Ezer; Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir and Mahazioth. ⁵(All these were sons of Heman the king’s seer. They were given him through the promises of God to exalt him. God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.)

⁶All these men were under the supervision of their father for the music of the temple of the Lord, with cymbals, lyres and harps, for the ministry at the house of God.

Asaph, Jeduthun and Heman were under the supervision of the king. ⁷Along with their relatives—all of them trained and skilled in music for the Lord—they numbered 288.⁸Young and old alike, teacher as well as student, cast lots for their duties.

⁹The first lot, which was for Asaph, fell to Joseph,
his sons and relatives^[d]	12^[e]
the second to Gedaliah,
him and his relatives and sons	12
¹⁰the third to Zakkur,
his sons and relatives	12
¹¹the fourth to Izri,^[f]
his sons and relatives	12
¹²the fifth to Nethaniah,
his sons and relatives	12
¹³the sixth to Bukkiah,
his sons and relatives	12
¹⁴the seventh to Jesarelah,^[g]
his sons and relatives	12
¹⁵the eighth to Jeshaiah,
his sons and relatives	12
¹⁶the ninth to Mattaniah,
his sons and relatives	12
¹⁷the tenth to Shimei,
his sons and relatives	12
¹⁸the eleventh to Azarel,^[h]
his sons and relatives	12
¹⁹the twelfth to Hashabiah,
his sons and relatives	12
²⁰the thirteenth to Shubael,
his sons and relatives	12
²¹the fourteenth to Mattithiah,
his sons and relatives	12
²²the fifteenth to Jerimoth,
his sons and relatives	12
²³the sixteenth to Hananiah,
his sons and relatives	12
²⁴the seventeenth to Joshbekashah,
his sons and relatives	12
²⁵the eighteenth to Hanani,
his sons and relatives	12
²⁶the nineteenth to Mallothi,
his sons and relatives	12
²⁷the twentieth to Eliathah,
his sons and relatives	12
²⁸the twenty-first to Hothir,
his sons and relatives	12
²⁹the twenty-second to Giddalti,
his sons and relatives	12
³⁰the twenty-third to Mahazioth,
his sons and relatives	12
³¹the twenty-fourth to Romamti-Ezer,
his sons and relatives	12.