1 Chronicles 22:1–24:31

Then David said, “The house of the Lord God^u is to be here, and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

Preparations for the Temple

²So David gave orders to assemble the foreigners^v residing in Israel, and from among them he appointed stonecutters^w to prepare dressed stone for building the house of God. ³He provided a large amount of iron to make nails for the doors of the gateways and for the fittings, and more bronze than could be weighed.^{x 4}He also provided more cedar logs^y than could be counted, for the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought large numbers of them to David.

⁵David said, “My son Solomon is young^z and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the Lord should be of great magnificence and fame and splendor^a in the sight of all the nations. Therefore I will make preparations for it.” So David made extensive preparations before his death.

⁶Then he called for his son Solomon and charged him to build^b a house for the Lord, the God of Israel. ⁷David said to Solomon: “My son, I had it in my heart^c to build^d a house for the Name^e of the Lord my God. ⁸But this word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars.^f You are not to build a house for my Name,^g because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. ⁹But you will have a son who will be a man of peace^h and rest,ⁱ and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon,^aj and I will grant Israel peace and quiet^k during his reign. ¹⁰He is the one who will build a house for my Name.^l He will be my son,^m and I will be his father. And I will establishⁿ the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’^o

¹¹“Now, my son, the Lord be with^p you, and may you have success and build the house of the Lord your God, as he said you would. ¹²May the Lord give you discretion and understanding^q when he puts you in command over Israel, so that you may keep the law of the Lord your God. ¹³Then you will have success^r if you are careful to observe the decrees and laws^s that the Lord gave Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous.^t Do not be afraid or discouraged.

¹⁴“I have taken great pains to provide for the temple of the Lord a hundred thousand talents^b of gold, a million talents^c of silver, quantities of bronze and iron too great to be weighed, and wood and stone. And you may add to them.^{u 15}You have many workers: stonecutters, masons and carpenters,^v as well as those skilled in every kind of work ¹⁶in gold and silver, bronze and iron—craftsmen^w beyond number. Now begin the work, and the Lord be with you.”

¹⁷Then David ordered^x all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon. ¹⁸He said to them, “Is not the Lord your God with you? And has he not granted you rest^y on every side?^z For he has given the inhabitants of the land into my hands, and the land is subject to the Lord and to his people. ¹⁹Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God.^a Begin to build the sanctuary of the Lord God, so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the sacred articles belonging to God into the temple that will be built for the Name of the Lord.”

The Levites

23When David was old and full of years, he made his son Solomon^b king over Israel.^c

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

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

Gershonites

⁷Belonging to the Gershonites:ⁿ

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:^o

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

¹³The sons of Amram:^p

Aaron and Moses.

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

¹⁵The sons of Moses:

Gershom and Eliezer.^u

¹⁶The descendants of Gershom:^v

Shubael was the first.

¹⁷The descendants of Eliezer:

Rehabiah^w was the first.

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

¹⁸The sons of Izhar:

Shelomith^x was the first.

¹⁹The sons of Hebron:^y

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:^z

Mahli and Mushi.^a

The sons of Mahli:

Eleazar and Kish.

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

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^c who served in the temple of the Lord. ²⁵For David had said, “Since the Lord, the God of Israel, has granted rest^d 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.”^{e 27}According 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^f 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,^g the special flour for the grain offerings,^h the thin loaves made without yeast, the baking and the mixing, and all measurements of quantity and size.^{i 30}They were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord. They were to do the same in the evening^{j 31}and whenever burnt offerings were presented to the Lord on the Sabbaths, at the New Moon^k feasts and at the appointed festivals.^l They were to serve before the Lord regularly in the proper number and in the way prescribed for them.

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

The Divisions of Priests

24These were the divisions^p of the descendants of Aaron:^q

The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.^{r 2}But Nadab and Abihu died before their father did,^s and they had no sons; so Eleazar and Ithamar served as the priests. ³With the help of Zadok^t 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,^u 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^v 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,^w

⁸the third to Harim,^x

the fourth to Seorim,

⁹the fifth to Malkijah,

the sixth to Mijamin,

¹⁰the seventh to Hakkoz,

the eighth to Abijah,^y

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,^z

¹⁵the seventeenth to Hezir,^a

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 the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded him.

The Rest of the Levites

²⁰As for the rest of the descendants of Levi:^b

from the sons of Amram: Shubael;

from the sons of Shubael: Jehdeiah.

²¹As for Rehabiah,^c from his sons:

Ishiah was the first.

²²From the Izharites: Shelomoth;

from the sons of Shelomoth: Jahath.

²³The sons of Hebron:^d Jeriah the first,^a 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:^e 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,^f 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…