1 Chronicles 23–26

The Divisions of the Levites

23So when David was old and full of days, he made his son ^aSolomon king over Israel.

²And he gathered together all the leaders of Israel, with the priests and the Levites. ³Now the Levites were numbered from the age of ^bthirty years and above; and the number of individual males was thirty-eight thousand. ⁴Of these, twenty-four thousand were to ^clook after the work of the house of the Lord, six thousand were ^dofficers and judges, ⁵four thousand were gatekeepers, and four thousand ^epraised the Lord with musical instruments, ^f“which I made,” said David, “for giving praise.”

⁶Also ^gDavid separated them into ¹divisions among the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷Of the ^hGershonites: ²Laadan and Shimei. ⁸The sons of Laadan: the first Jehiel, then Zetham and Joel—three in all. ⁹The sons of Shimei: Shelomith, Haziel, and Haran—three in all. These were the heads of the fathers’ houses of Laadan. ¹⁰And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, ³Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These were the four sons of Shimei. ¹¹Jahath was the first and Zizah the second. But Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons; therefore they were assigned as one father’s house.

¹²ⁱThe sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel—four in all. ¹³The sons of ^jAmram: Aaron and Moses; and ^kAaron was set apart, he and his sons forever, that he should ⁴sanctify the most holy things, ^lto burn incense before the Lord, ^mto minister to Him, and ⁿto give the blessing in His name forever. ¹⁴Now ^othe sons of Moses the man of God were reckoned to the tribe of Levi. ^15pThe sons of Moses were ⁵Gershon and Eliezer. ¹⁶Of the sons of Gershon, ^qShebuel ⁶was the first. ¹⁷Of the descendants of Eliezer, ^rRehabiah was the first. And Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. ¹⁸Of the sons of Izhar, ^sShelomith was the first. ^19tOf the sons of Hebron, Jeriah was the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. ²⁰Of the sons of Uzziel, Michah was the first and Jesshiah the second.

^21uThe sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and ^vKish. ²²And Eleazar died, and ^whad no sons, but only daughters; and their ⁷brethren, the sons of Kish, ^xtook them as wives. ^23yThe sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth—three in all.

²⁴These were the sons of ^zLevi by their fathers’ houses—the heads of the fathers’ houses as they were counted individually by the number of their names, who did the work for the service of the house of the Lord, from the age of ^atwenty years and above.

²⁵For David said, “The Lord God of Israel ^bhas given rest to His people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem forever”; ²⁶and also to the Levites, “They shall no longer ^ccarry the tabernacle, or any of the articles for its service.” ²⁷For by the ^dlast words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above; ²⁸because their duty was to help the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of the Lord, in the courts and in the chambers, in the purifying of all holy things and the work of the service of the house of God, ²⁹both with ^ethe showbread and ^fthe fine flour for the grain offering, with ^gthe unleavened cakes and ^hwhat is baked in the pan, with what is mixed and with all kinds of ⁱmeasures and sizes; ³⁰to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at evening; ³¹and at every presentation of a burnt offering to the Lord ^jon the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the ^kset ⁸feasts, by number according to the ordinance governing them, regularly before the Lord; ³²and that they should ^lattend to the ^mneeds of the tabernacle of meeting, the needs of the holy place, and the ⁿneeds of the sons of Aaron their brethren in the work of the house of the Lord.

The Divisions of the Priests

24Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. ^aThe sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ²And ^bNadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children; therefore Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests. ³Then David with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and ^cAhimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to the schedule of their service.

⁴There 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. ⁵Thus 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. ⁶And the scribe, Shemaiah the son of Nethanel, one of the Levites, wrote them down before the king, the leaders, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and Levites, one father’s house taken for Eleazar and one for Ithamar.

⁷Now the 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 ^dAbijah, 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 ¹Happizzez, ¹⁶the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to ²Jehezekel, ¹⁷the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul, ¹⁸the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah.

¹⁹This was the schedule of their service ^efor coming into the house of the Lord according to their ordinance by the hand of Aaron their father, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him.

Other Levites

²⁰And the rest of the sons of Levi: of the sons of Amram, ³Shubael; of the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah. ²¹Concerning ^fRehabiah, of the sons of Rehabiah, the first was Isshiah. ²²Of the Izharites, ⁴Shelomoth; of the sons of Shelomoth, Jahath. ²³Of the sons ⁵of ^gHebron, Jeriah was the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. ²⁴Of the sons of Uzziel, Michah; of the sons of Michah, Shamir. ²⁵The brother of Michah, Isshiah; of the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah. ^26hThe sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi; the son of Jaaziah, Beno. ²⁷The sons of Merari by Jaaziah were Beno, Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri. ²⁸Of Mahli: Eleazar, ⁱwho had no sons. ²⁹Of Kish: the son of Kish, Jerahmeel.

³⁰Also ^jthe sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites according to their fathers’ houses.

³¹These also cast lots just as their brothers the sons of Aaron did, in the presence of King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and Levites. The chief fathers did just as their younger brethren.

The Musicians

25Moreover David and the captains of the army separated for the service some of the sons of ^aAsaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, stringed instruments, and cymbals. And the number of the skilled men performing their service was: ²Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and ¹Asharelah; the sons of Asaph were ²under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied according to the order of the king. ³Of ^bJeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, ³Zeri, Jeshaiah, ⁴Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, ⁵six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp to give thanks and to praise the Lord. ⁴Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, ⁶Uzziel, ⁷Shebuel, ⁸Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-Ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth. ⁵All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer in the words of God, to ⁹exalt his ^chorn. For God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.

⁶All these were under the direction of their father for the music in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, stringed instruments, and ^dharps, for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were ^eunder the authority of the king. ⁷So the ^fnumber of them, with their brethren who were instructed in the songs of the Lord, all who were skillful, was two hundred and eighty-eight.

⁸And they cast lots for their duty, the small as well as the great, ^gthe teacher with the student.

⁹Now the first lot for Asaph came out for Joseph; the second for Gedaliah, him with his brethren and sons, twelve; ¹⁰the third for Zaccur, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ¹¹the fourth for ¹Jizri, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ¹²the fifth for Nethaniah, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ¹³the sixth for Bukkiah, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ¹⁴the seventh for ²Jesharelah, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ¹⁵the eighth for Jeshaiah, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ¹⁶the ninth for Mattaniah, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ¹⁷the tenth for Shimei, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ¹⁸the eleventh for ³Azarel, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ¹⁹the twelfth for Hashabiah, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ²⁰the thirteenth for ⁴Shubael, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ²¹the fourteenth for Mattithiah, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ²²the fifteenth for ⁵Jeremoth, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ²³the sixteenth for Hananiah, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ²⁴the seventeenth for Joshbekashah, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ²⁵the eighteenth for Hanani, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ²⁶the nineteenth for Mallothi, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ²⁷the twentieth for Eliathah, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ²⁸the twenty-first for Hothir, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ²⁹the twenty-second for Giddalti, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ³⁰the twenty-third for Mahazioth, his sons and his brethren, twelve; ³¹the twenty-fourth for Romamti-Ezer, his sons and his brethren, twelve.

The Gatekeepers

26Concerning the divisions of the gatekeepers: of the Korahites, ¹Meshelemiah the son of ^aKore, of the sons…