¹⁷The men who guarded the gates were Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman and other Levites. Shallum was their chief. ¹⁸He was stationed at the King’s Gate on the east side of the temple. That duty has continued to this very day. Those guards belonged to the camp of the Levites.

¹⁹Shallum was the son of Kore. Kore was the son of Ebiasaph. Ebiasaph was the son of Korah. Shallum and the other Levites in his family belonged to the family line of Korah. They had the duty of guarding the entrances to the temple.

Their fathers had also had the duty of guarding the entrance to the house of the Lord. ²⁰Long ago Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, was in charge of those who guarded the gate. And the Lord was with him.

²¹Zechariah guarded the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. He was the son of Meshelemiah.

²²The total number of the men who were chosen to guard the entrances was 212. They were listed in their family history in their villages. David and the prophet Samuel had appointed them to their positions. They appointed them because they trusted them.

²³Those Levites and their children after them were in charge of guarding the gates of the house of the Lord. The house of the Lord was also called the temple. ²⁴The men who guarded the gates were on the four sides of the temple. They were on the east, west, north and south sides. ²⁵From time to time, their relatives in their villages had to come to the temple. They had to share their duties for a week at a time.

²⁶The four main men who guarded the gates were Levites. They were trusted with the duty of taking care of the storerooms and the other rooms in the house of God. ²⁷They spent the night in their positions around the house of God. That’s because they had to guard it. They were in charge of the key that opened the temple each morning.

²⁸Some Levites were in charge of the articles that were used when they served at the temple. They counted the articles when they were brought in. They also counted them when they were taken out.

²⁹Other Levites were appointed to take care of all of the other articles that belonged to the temple. They also took care of the flour, wine, olive oil, incense and spices. ³⁰Some of the priests took care of mixing the spices.

³¹There was a Levite named Mattithiah. He was the oldest son of Shallum. Shallum belonged to the family line of Korah. Mattithiah was trusted with the duty of baking the offering bread. ³²The bread was placed on the table every Sabbath day. Some Levites in the family line of Kohath were in charge of preparing the bread.

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