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1 Chronicles 24:1–5

The Divisions of the Priests

24 Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. aThe sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. And bNadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children; therefore Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests. Then David with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and cAhimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to the schedule of their service.

There were more leaders found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar, and thus they were divided. Among the sons of Eleazar were sixteen heads of their fathers’ houses, and eight heads of their fathers’ houses among the sons of Ithamar. Thus they were divided by lot, one group as another, for there were officials of the sanctuary and officials of the house of God, from the sons of Eleazar and from the sons of Ithamar.

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1 Chronicles 24:1–5 — The New International Version (NIV)

These were the divisions of the descendants of Aaron:

The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died before their father did, and they had no sons; so Eleazar and Ithamar served as the priests. With 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. A 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. They 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.

1 Chronicles 24:1–5 — English Standard Version (ESV)

The divisions of the sons of Aaron were these. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died before their father and had no children, so Eleazar and Ithamar became the priests. With the help of Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, David organized them according to the appointed duties in their service. Since 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. They divided them by lot, all alike, for there were sacred officers and officers of God among both the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar.

1 Chronicles 24:1–5 — King James Version (KJV 1900)

Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. The sons of Aaron; Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children: therefore Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priest’s office. And David distributed them, both Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, according to their offices in their service. And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar; and thus were they divided. Among the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen chief men of the house of their fathers, and eight among the sons of Ithamar according to the house of their fathers. Thus were they divided by lot, one sort with another; for the governors of the sanctuary, and governors of the house of God, were of the sons of Eleazar, and of the sons of Ithamar.

1 Chronicles 24:1–5 — New Living Translation (NLT)

This is how Aaron’s descendants, the priests, were divided into groups for service. The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and they had no sons. So only Eleazar and Ithamar were left to carry on as priests.

With the help of Zadok, who was a descendant of Eleazar, and of Ahimelech, who was a descendant of Ithamar, David divided Aaron’s descendants into groups according to their various duties. Eleazar’s descendants were divided into sixteen groups and Ithamar’s into eight, for there were more family leaders among the descendants of Eleazar.

All tasks were assigned to the various groups by means of sacred lots so that no preference would be shown, for there were many qualified officials serving God in the sanctuary from among the descendants of both Eleazar and Ithamar.

1 Chronicles 24:1–5 — New Century Version (NCV)

These were the groups of Aaron’s sons: Aaron’s sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died before their father did, and they had no sons. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as the priests. David, with the help of Zadok, a descendant of Eleazar, and Ahimelech, a descendant of Ithamar, separated their family groups into two different groups. Each group had certain duties. There were more leaders from Eleazar’s family than from Ithamar’s—sixteen leaders from Eleazar’s family and eight leaders from Ithamar’s family. Men were chosen from Eleazar’s and Ithamar’s families by throwing lots. Some men from each family were chosen to be in charge of the Holy Place, and some were chosen to serve as priests.

1 Chronicles 24:1–5 — American Standard Version (ASV)

And the courses of the sons of Aaron were these. The sons of Aaron: Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children: therefore Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priest’s office. And David with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their ordering in their service. And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar; and thus were they divided: of the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen, heads of fathers’ houses; and of the sons of Ithamar, according to their fathers’ houses, eight. Thus were they divided by lot, one sort with another; for there were princes of the sanctuary, and princes of God, both of the sons of Eleazar, and of the sons of Ithamar.

1 Chronicles 24:1–5 — 1890 Darby Bible (DARBY)

And the divisions of the sons of Aaron: the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. And Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children; and Eleazar and Ithamar exercised the priesthood. And David distributed them, both Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, according to their office in their service. And there were more head-men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar, and thus were they divided: of the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen heads of fathers’ houses, and eight of the sons of Ithamar according to their fathers’ houses. And they were divided by lot, one with another; for the princes of the sanctuary and the princes of God were of the sons of Eleazar and of the sons of Ithamar.

1 Chronicles 24:1–5 — GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

The divisions of Aaron’s descendants were as follows: Aaron’s sons were Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. Nadab and Abihu died before their father died, and neither had any children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests. 

David, Eleazar’s descendant Zadok, and Ithamar’s descendant Ahimelech divided Aaron’s descendants into groups for service. Since Eleazar’s descendants had more men who were family heads than Ithamar’s descendants, they were divided so that Eleazar’s descendants had 16 family leaders and Ithamar’s descendants had 8 family leaders. Both groups were divided impartially by drawing lots so that there were officers for the holy place and officers for God among both Eleazar’s and Ithamar’s descendants.

1 Chronicles 24:1–5 — The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

The divisions of the descendants of Aaron were as follows: Aaron’s sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and they had no sons, so Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests. Together with Zadok from the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech from the sons of Ithamar, David divided them according to the assigned duties of their service. Since more leaders were found among Eleazar’s descendants than Ithamar’s, they were divided accordingly: 16 heads of ancestral houses were from Eleazar’s descendants, and eight heads of ancestral houses were from Ithamar’s. They were assigned by lot, for there were officers of the sanctuary and officers of God among both Eleazar’s and Ithamar’s descendants.

1 Chronicles 24:1–5 — The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The divisions of the descendants of Aaron were these. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no sons; so Eleazar and Ithamar became the priests. Along with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, David organized them according to the appointed duties in their service. Since more chief men were found among the sons of Eleazar than among the sons of Ithamar, they organized them under sixteen heads of ancestral houses of the sons of Eleazar, and eight of the sons of Ithamar. They organized them by lot, all alike, for there were officers of the sanctuary and officers of God among both the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar.

1 Chronicles 24:1–5 — The Lexham English Bible (LEB)

And as for the sons of Aaron, these were their divisions. The sons of Aaron were Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. And Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and they had no sons, so Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests. And David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their appointments for their service. And 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. They divided them by lot all alike, for they were commanders of the sanctuary and commanders of God from among the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar.

1 Chronicles 24:1–5 — New International Reader’s Version (1998) (NIrV)

Here are the groups of priests the sons of Aaron were separated into.

The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died before their father did. They didn’t have any sons. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as the priests.

With the help of Zadok and Ahimelech, David separated the priests into groups. Each group served in its appointed order and time. Zadok belonged to the family line of Eleazar. Ahimelech belonged to the family line of Ithamar. More leaders were found among Eleazar’s family line than among Ithamar’s. So the priests were separated into their groups based on that fact. There were 16 family leaders from Eleazar’s line. There were eight family leaders from Ithamar’s line.

The priests were separated into their groups by using lots. That was the fair way to do it. The priests were officials of the temple and officials of God. They came from the family lines of Eleazar and Ithamar.

1 Chronicles 24:1–5 — New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (NASB95)

Now the divisions of the descendants of Aaron were these: the sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

But Nadab and Abihu died before their father and had no sons. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.

David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their offices for their ministry.

Since more chief men were found from the descendants of Eleazar than the descendants of Ithamar, they divided them thus: there were sixteen heads of fathers households of the descendants of Eleazar and eight of the descendants of Ithamar, according to their fathers households.

Thus they were divided by lot, the one as the other; for they were officers of the sanctuary and officers of God, both from the descendants of Eleazar and the descendants of Ithamar.


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