1 Chronicles 23–26

David Organizes the Levites

23^qWhen David was old and full of days, ^rhe made Solomon his son king over Israel.

²David¹ assembled all the leaders of Israel and the priests and the Levites. ³The Levites, ^sthirty years old and upward, were numbered, and ^tthe total was ^u38,000 men. ⁴“Twenty-four thousand of these,” David said,^{2 v}“shall have charge of the work in the house of the Lord, 6,000 shall be ^wofficers and judges, ⁵4,000 gatekeepers, and 4,000 shall offer praises to the Lord with the instruments ^xthat I have made for praise.” ^6yAnd David organized them in divisions ^zcorresponding to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

^7aThe sons of Gershon³ were Ladan and Shimei. ⁸The sons of Ladan: ^bJehiel the chief, and Zetham, and Joel, three. ⁹The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers’ houses of Ladan. ¹⁰And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, and Jeush and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei. ¹¹Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, therefore they became counted as a single father’s house.

^12cThe sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four. ^13dThe sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. ^eAaron was set apart to dedicate the most holy things, that he and his sons forever should ^fmake offerings before the Lord and ^gminister to him and ^hpronounce blessings in his name forever. ¹⁴But the sons of Moses the ⁱman of God were named among the ^jtribe of Levi. ¹⁵The ^ksons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. ¹⁶The sons of Gershom: ^lShebuel the chief. ¹⁷The sons of Eliezer: Rehabiah the chief. Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. ¹⁸The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the chief. ¹⁹The ^msons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. ²⁰ⁿThe sons of Uzziel: Micah the chief and Isshiah the second.

^21oThe sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and ^pKish. ²²Eleazar died ^qhaving no sons, but only daughters; their ^rkinsmen, the sons of Kish, married them. ^23sThe sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth, three.

^24tThese were the sons of Levi by their fathers’ houses, the heads of fathers’ houses ^uas they were listed according to the number of the names of the individuals from ^vtwenty years old and upward who were to do the work for the service of the house of the Lord. ²⁵For David said, “The Lord, the God of Israel, ^whas given rest to his people, and he dwells in Jerusalem forever. ²⁶And so the Levites no longer need ^xto carry the tabernacle or any of the things for its service.” ²⁷For by the last words of David the sons of Levi were numbered from ^vtwenty years old and upward. ²⁸For their duty was to assist the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the Lord, having the care of the courts and the chambers, the cleansing of all that is holy, and any work for the service of the house of God. ²⁹Their duty was also to assist with the ^yshowbread, the ^zflour for the grain offering, the wafers of unleavened bread, the ^abaked offering, the ^boffering mixed with oil, and all ^cmeasures of quantity or size. ³⁰And they were to stand every morning, thanking and praising the Lord, and likewise at evening, ³¹and whenever burnt offerings were offered to the Lord ^don Sabbaths, ^enew moons, and feast days, ^faccording to the number required of them, regularly before the Lord. ³²Thus ^gthey were to keep charge of the tent of meeting and the sanctuary, and to attend the sons of Aaron, their brothers, for the ^hservice of the house of the Lord.

David Organizes the Priests

24The divisions of the sons of Aaron were these. The sons of ⁱAaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ^2jBut Nadab and Abihu died before their father and had no children, so Eleazar and Ithamar became the priests. ³With the help of ^kZadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, David organized them according to the appointed duties in their service. ⁴Since more chief men were found among the sons of Eleazar than among the sons of Ithamar, they organized them under sixteen heads of fathers’ houses of the sons of Eleazar, and eight of the sons of Ithamar. ⁵They divided them ^lby lot, all alike, for there were sacred officers and officers of God among both the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar. ⁶And the scribe Shemaiah, the son of Nethanel, a Levite, recorded them in the presence of the king and the princes and Zadok the priest and ^mAhimelech the son of Abiathar and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and of the Levites, one father’s house being chosen for Eleazar and one chosen for Ithamar.

⁷The first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, ⁸the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, ⁹the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin, ¹⁰the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to ⁿAbijah, ¹¹the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah, 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 Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul, ¹⁸the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah. ¹⁹These had as their appointed duty in their service ^oto 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.

²⁰And of the rest of the sons of Levi: ^pof the sons of Amram, Shubael; of the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah. ^21qOf Rehabiah: of the sons of Rehabiah, Isshiah the chief. ²²Of the Izharites, Shelomoth; of the sons of Shelomoth, Jahath. ^23rThe sons of Hebron:¹ Jeriah the chief,² Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth. ^24sThe sons of Uzziel, Micah; of the sons of Micah, Shamir. ²⁵The brother of Micah, Isshiah; of the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah. ^26tThe sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Jaaziah: Beno.^{3 27}The sons of Merari: of Jaaziah, Beno, Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri. ²⁸Of Mahli: Eleazar, ^uwho had no sons. ²⁹Of Kish, the sons of Kish: Jerahmeel. ^30vThe sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites according to their fathers’ houses. ³¹These also, the head of each father’s house and his younger brother alike, ^wcast lots, just as their brothers the sons of Aaron, in the presence of King David, ^xZadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of fathers’ houses of the priests and of the Levites.

David Organizes the Musicians

25David and the chiefs of the service also set apart for the service the sons of ^yAsaph, and of ^zHeman, and of ^aJeduthun, who ^bprophesied with lyres, with ^charps, and with cymbals. The list of those who did the work and of their duties was: ²Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah, sons of Asaph, under the direction of Asaph, who ^bprophesied under the direction of the king. ³Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei,¹ Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun, ^bwho prophesied with the lyre in thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. ⁴Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth. ⁵All these were the sons of Heman ^dthe king’s seer, according to the promise of God to exalt him, for God had given Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. ⁶They were all under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the Lord with cymbals, ^charps, and lyres for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order of the king. ⁷The number of them along with their brothers, who were trained in singing to the Lord, all who were skillful, was ^e288. ⁸And they cast lots for their duties, ^fsmall and great, teacher and pupil alike.

⁹The first lot fell for Asaph to Joseph; the second to Gedaliah, to him and his brothers and his sons, twelve; ¹⁰the third to Zaccur, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹¹the fourth to Izri, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹²the fifth to Nethaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹³the sixth to Bukkiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁴the seventh to Jesharelah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁵the eighth to Jeshaiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁶the ninth to Mattaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁷the tenth to Shimei, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁸the eleventh to Azarel, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁹the twelfth to Hashabiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁰to the thirteenth, Shubael, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²¹to the fourteenth, Mattithiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²²to the fifteenth, to Jeremoth, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²³to the sixteenth, to Hananiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁴to the seventeenth, to Joshbekashah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁵to the eighteenth, to Hanani, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁶to the nineteenth, to Mallothi, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁷to the twentieth, to Eliathah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁸to the twenty-first, to Hothir, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁹to the twenty-second, to Giddalti, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ³⁰to the twenty-third, to Mahazioth, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ³¹to the twenty-fourth, to Romamti-ezer, his sons and his brothers, twelve.

Divisions of the Gatekeepers

26As for the divisions of the gatekeepers: of the Korahites, Meshelemiah the son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph. ²And Meshelemiah had sons: ^gZechariah the firstborn, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth, ³Elam the fifth, Jehohanan the sixth, Eliehoenai the seventh. ⁴And ^hObed-edom had sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sachar the fourth,…