1 Chronicles 23

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.