1 Chronicles 23–26

David Organizes the Levites

23Now David was old and full of days. And he made Solomon his son king over Israel. ²And he assembled all the commanders of Israel and the priests and the Levites. ³And the Levites from thirty years old^a and above were counted, and their number according to their head count for the men was thirty-eight thousand. ⁴Of these, David said, “Twenty-four thousand are to direct the work of the house of Yahweh, along with six thousand judges and officials, ⁵four thousand gatekeepers, and four thousand offering praise to Yahweh with the instruments that I have made for praise.” ⁶And David organized them in divisions according to the sons of Levi: to Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷For the Gershonites were Ladan and Shimei. ⁸The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief and Zetham and Joel, three. ⁹The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the families^b of Ladan. ¹⁰And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah; these four were the sons of Shimei. ¹¹And Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second, but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons. They were enrolled as one for the house of a father.

¹²The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four. ¹³The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. And Aaron was set apart to consecrate the most holy things. He and his sons were to burn offerings forever before Yahweh to serve him and to bless in his name forever. ¹⁴But Moses the man of God and his sons were reckoned among the tribe of Levi. ¹⁵The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. ¹⁶The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the chief. ¹⁷And the sons of Eliezer were Rehabiah, the head. And Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. ¹⁸The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the chief. ¹⁹The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. ²⁰The sons of Uzziel: Micah the chief and Isshiah the second.

²¹The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish. ²²And Eleazar died, and he did not have sons, but only daughters. And the sons of Kish, their relatives, married them. ²³The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth, three.

²⁴These were the sons of Levi according to the house of their fathers, the heads of the families,^c according to their enrollment, by the number of the names, according to their head count, who were to do the work of the service of the house of Yahweh, from twenty years old^d and above. ²⁵For David said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people, and he dwells in Jerusalem forever. ²⁶And also, the Levites do not need to carry the tabernacle and all its vessels for its service.” ²⁷For by the last words of David, they are the number of the sons of Levi, from twenty years old^e and above. ²⁸For their station was to assist^f the sons of Aaron with the service of the house of Yahweh, over the courtyards, over the chambers, and over the cleansing of all the sanctified objects, and with the work of the service of the house of God, ²⁹and with the rows of bread, the flour, the grain offering, the wafers of unleavened bread, the baked offering, the offering mixed with oil, and for all the amounts and measurements. ³⁰And they were to stand every morning,^g thanking and praising Yahweh, and likewise in the evening, ³¹and for every burnt offering offered to Yahweh, on Sabbaths, on new moon festivals, and at the appointed feasts, according to the customary number required of them,^h regularly before Yahweh. ³²And they shall keep the responsibility of the tent of assembly,ⁱ the responsibility of the sanctified objects, and the responsibility of the sons of Aaron, their brothers, to serve the house of Yahweh.

David Organizes the Priests

24And as for the sons of Aaron, these were their divisions. The sons of Aaron were Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ²And Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and they had no sons,^a so Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests. ³And David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their appointments for their service. ⁴And more sons of Eleazar were found as heads of the men than the sons of Ithamar, so they divided them to the sons of Eleazar to be sixteen heads over the house of the fathers, and to the sons of Ithamar over the house of the fathers were eight heads. ⁵They divided them by lot all alike,^b for they were commanders of the sanctuary and commanders of God from among the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar. ⁶And Shemaiah the son of Nethanel, the scribe, from the Levites, recorded them before the king, the princes, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the families^c of the priests and Levites, one father’s house drawn by lot for Eleazar and one drawn by lot for Ithamar. ⁷And the first lot went out 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 Ezekiel, ¹⁷the twenty-first to Jakin, the twenty-second to Gamul, ¹⁸the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah. ¹⁹These were their appointments for their service to come into the house of Yahweh according to their custom by the hand of Aaron their father, as Yahweh the God of Israel had commanded him.

²⁰And as for the remainder of the sons of Levi: of the sons of Amram, Shubael; of the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah. ²¹Of Rehabiah: of the sons of Rehabiah, Isshiah the chief. ²²Of the Izharites, Shelomoth; of the sons of Shelomoth, Jahath. ²³Of the sons of Jeriah, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth. ²⁴The sons of Uzziel, Micah; the sons of Micah, Shamur. ²⁵The brother of Micah, Isshiah; of the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah. ²⁶The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi; the sons of Jaaziah, his son.^{d 27}The sons of Merari: of Jaaziah, his son,^e Shoham, Zakkur, and Ibri. ²⁸Of Mahli: Eleazar, who had no sons. ²⁹Of Kish: the sons of Kish, Jerahmeel. ³⁰And the sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites according to the house of their fathers. ³¹And lots were also cast for these, just as their brothers, the sons of Aaron, before David the king, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the families^f for the priests and for the Levites the fathers, on the principle of the chief and younger brother alike.^g

David Organizes the Musicians

25And David and the commanders of the army set apart for the service the sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who prophesied with stringed instruments, with harps, and with cymbals. And their inventory of the men of the work and for their duty was: ²for the sons of Asaph: Zakkur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah, sons of Asaph, under the hand^a of Asaph, who prophesied under the hands^b of the king. ³Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah,^c Heshabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands^d of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with the stringed instrument with thanksgiving and praise to Yahweh. 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 sons to Heman, the seer of the king, according to the words of God to raise a horn.^e And God had given to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. ⁶All these were under the direction^f of their father in the music of the house of Yahweh, with cymbals, harps, and stringed instruments for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the direction^g of the king. ⁷And their number, along with their brothers, trained singers, all the skilled people for Yahweh, were two hundred and eighty-eight. ⁸And they cast lots for responsibilities on the principle of small and great alike,^h teacher with student.

⁹And the first lot for Asaph went out to Joseph; the second to Gedaliahu; he and his brothers and his twelve sons. ¹⁰The third, Zakkur, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹¹the fourth to Izri, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹²the fifth, Nethaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹³the sixth, Bukkiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁴the seventh, Jesarelah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁵the eighth, Jeshaiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁶the ninth, Mattaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁷the tenth, Shimei, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁸eleventh, 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.

The Divisions of the Gatekeepers

26As for the working groups of the gatekeepers: of the Korahites, Meshelemiah the son of Kore, from the sons of Asaph. ²And Meshelemiah had sons: Zechariah the…