1 Chronicles 23–26

Chapter 23

Duties of the Levites

When David was an old man, he appointed his son Solomon to be king over Israel. ²David summoned all the leaders of Israel, together with the priests and Levites. ³All the Levites who were thirty years old or older were counted, and the total came to 38,000. ⁴Then David said, “From all the Levites, 24,000 will supervise the work at the Temple of the Lord. Another 6,000 will serve as officials and judges. ⁵Another 4,000 will work as gatekeepers, and 4,000 will praise the Lord with the musical instruments I have made.” ⁶Then David divided the Levites into divisions named after the clans descended from the three sons of Levi—Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

The Gershonites

⁷The Gershonite family units were defined by their lines of descent from Libni and Shimei, the sons of Gershon. ⁸Three of the descendants of Libni were Jehiel (the family leader), Zetham, and Joel. ⁹These were the leaders of the family of Libni.

Three of the descendants of Shimei were Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran. ¹⁰Four other descendants of Shimei were Jahath, Ziza, Jeush, and Beriah. ¹¹Jahath was the family leader, and Ziza was next. Jeush and Beriah were counted as a single family because neither had many sons.

The Kohathites

¹²Four of the descendants of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

¹³The sons of Amram were Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his descendants were set apart to dedicate the most holy things, to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s presence, to serve the Lord, and to pronounce blessings in his name forever.

¹⁴As for Moses, the man of God, his sons were included with the tribe of Levi. ¹⁵The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer. ¹⁶The descendants of Gershom included Shebuel, the family leader. ¹⁷Eliezer had only one son, Rehabiah, the family leader. Rehabiah had numerous descendants.

¹⁸The descendants of Izhar included Shelomith, the family leader.

¹⁹The descendants of Hebron included Jeriah (the family leader), Amariah (the second), Jahaziel (the third), and Jekameam (the fourth).

²⁰The descendants of Uzziel included Micah (the family leader) and Isshiah (the second).

The Merarites

²¹The descendants of Merari included Mahli and Mushi.

The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish. ²²Eleazar died with no sons, only daughters. His daughters married their cousins, the sons of Kish.

²³Three of the descendants of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.

²⁴These were the descendants of Levi by clans, the leaders of their family groups, registered carefully by name. Each had to be twenty years old or older to qualify for service in the house of the Lord. ²⁵For David said, “The Lord, the God of Israel, has given us peace, and he will always live in Jerusalem. ²⁶Now the Levites will no longer need to carry the Tabernacle and its furnishings from place to place.” ²⁷In accordance with David’s final instructions, all the Levites twenty years old or older were registered for service.

²⁸The work of the Levites was to assist the priests, the descendants of Aaron, as they served at the house of the Lord. They also took care of the courtyards and side rooms, helped perform the ceremonies of purification, and served in many other ways in the house of God. ²⁹They were in charge of the sacred bread that was set out on the table, the choice flour for the grain offerings, the wafers made without yeast, the cakes cooked in olive oil, and the other mixed breads. They were also responsible to check all the weights and measures. ³⁰And each morning and evening they stood before the Lord to sing songs of thanks and praise to him. ³¹They assisted with the burnt offerings that were presented to the Lord on Sabbath days, at new moon celebrations, and at all the appointed festivals. The required number of Levites served in the Lord’s presence at all times, following all the procedures they had been given.

³²And so, under the supervision of the priests, the Levites watched over the Tabernacle and the Temple and faithfully carried out their duties of service at the house of the Lord.

Chapter 24

Duties of the Priests

This is how Aaron’s descendants, the priests, were divided into groups for service. The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ²But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and they had no sons. So only Eleazar and Ithamar were left to carry on as priests.

³With 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. ⁴Eleazar’s descendants were divided into sixteen groups and Ithamar’s into eight, for there were more family leaders among the descendants of Eleazar.

⁵All 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. ⁶Shemaiah son of Nethanel, a Levite, acted as secretary and wrote down the names and assignments in the presence of the king, the officials, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech son of Abiathar, and the family leaders of the priests and Levites. The descendants of Eleazar and Ithamar took turns casting lots.

⁷The first lot fell to Jehoiarib.

The second lot fell to Jedaiah.

⁸The third lot fell to Harim.

The fourth lot fell to Seorim.

⁹The fifth lot fell to Malkijah.

The sixth lot fell to Mijamin.

¹⁰The seventh lot fell to Hakkoz.

The eighth lot fell to Abijah.

¹¹The ninth lot fell to Jeshua.

The tenth lot fell to Shecaniah.

¹²The eleventh lot fell to Eliashib.

The twelfth lot fell to Jakim.

¹³The thirteenth lot fell to Huppah.

The fourteenth lot fell to Jeshebeab.

¹⁴The fifteenth lot fell to Bilgah.

The sixteenth lot fell to Immer.

¹⁵The seventeenth lot fell to Hezir.

The eighteenth lot fell to Happizzez.

¹⁶The nineteenth lot fell to Pethahiah.

The twentieth lot fell to Jehezkel.

¹⁷The twenty-first lot fell to Jakin.

The twenty-second lot fell to Gamul.

¹⁸The twenty-third lot fell to Delaiah.

The twenty-fourth lot fell to Maaziah.

¹⁹Each group carried out its appointed duties in the house of the Lord according to the procedures established by their ancestor Aaron in obedience to the commands of the Lord, the God of Israel.

Family Leaders among the Levites

²⁰These were the other family leaders descended from Levi:

From the descendants of Amram, the leader was Shebuel.

From the descendants of Shebuel, the leader was Jehdeiah.

²¹From the descendants of Rehabiah, the leader was Isshiah.

²²From the descendants of Izhar, the leader was Shelomith.

From the descendants of Shelomith, the leader was Jahath.

²³From the descendants of Hebron, Jeriah was the leader, Amariah was second, Jahaziel was third, and Jekameam was fourth.

²⁴From the descendants of Uzziel, the leader was Micah.

From the descendants of Micah, the leader was Shamir, ²⁵along with Isshiah, the brother of Micah.

From the descendants of Isshiah, the leader was Zechariah.

²⁶From the descendants of Merari, the leaders were Mahli and Mushi.

From the descendants of Jaaziah, the leader was Beno.

²⁷From the descendants of Merari through Jaaziah, the leaders were Beno, Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri.

²⁸From the descendants of Mahli, the leader was Eleazar, though he had no sons.

²⁹From the descendants of Kish, the leader was Jerahmeel.

³⁰From the descendants of Mushi, the leaders were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.

These were the descendants of Levi in their various families. ³¹Like the descendants of Aaron, they were assigned to their duties by means of sacred lots, without regard to age or rank. Lots were drawn in the presence of King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the family leaders of the priests and the Levites.

Chapter 25

Duties of the Musicians

David and the army commanders then appointed men from the families of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to proclaim God’s messages to the accompaniment of lyres, harps, and cymbals. Here is a list of their names and their work:

²From the sons of Asaph, there were Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah. They worked under the direction of their father, Asaph, who proclaimed God’s messages by the king’s orders.

³From the sons of Jeduthun, there were Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six in all. They worked under the direction of their father, Jeduthun, who proclaimed God’s messages to the accompaniment of the lyre, offering thanks and praise to the Lord.

⁴From the sons of Heman, there were Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shubael, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth. ⁵All these were the sons of Heman, the king’s seer, for God had honored him with fourteen sons and three daughters.

⁶All these men were under the direction of their fathers as they made music at the house of the Lord. Their responsibilities included the playing of cymbals, harps, and lyres at the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman reported directly to the king. ⁷They and their families were all trained in making music before the Lord, and each of them—288 in all—was an accomplished musician. ⁸The musicians were appointed to their term of service by means of sacred lots, without regard to whether they were young or old, teacher or student.

⁹The first lot fell to Joseph of the Asaph clan and twelve of his sons and relatives.

The second lot fell to Gedaliah and twelve of his sons and relatives.

¹⁰The third lot fell to Zaccur and twelve of his sons and relatives.

¹¹The fourth lot fell to Zeri and twelve of his sons and relatives.

¹²The fifth lot fell to Nethaniah and twelve of his sons and relatives.

¹³The sixth lot fell to Bukkiah and twelve of his sons and relatives.

¹⁴The seventh lot fell to Asarelah and twelve of his sons and relatives.

¹⁵The eighth lot fell to Jeshaiah and twelve of his sons and relatives.

¹⁶The ninth lot fell to Mattaniah and twelve of his sons and relatives.

¹⁷The tenth lot fell to…