David Organizes the Levites

¹qWhen David was old and full of days, rhe made Solomon his son king over Israel.

²David1 assembled all the leaders of Israel and the priests and the Levites. ³The Levites, sthirty years old and upward, were numbered, and tthe total was u38,000 men. ⁴“Twenty-four thousand of these,” David said,2 v“shall have charge of the work in the house of the Lord, 6,000 shall be wofficers and judges, ⁵4,000 gatekeepers, and 4,000 shall offer praises to the Lord with the instruments xthat I have made for praise.” ⁶yAnd David organized them in divisions zcorresponding to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷aThe sons of Gershon3 were Ladan and Shimei. ⁸The sons of Ladan: bJehiel the chief, and Zetham, and Joel, three. ⁹The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers' houses of Ladan. ¹⁰And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, and Jeush and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei. ¹¹Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, therefore they became counted as a single father's house.

¹²cThe sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four. ¹³dThe sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. eAaron was set apart to dedicate the most holy things, that he and his sons forever should fmake offerings before the Lord and gminister to him and hpronounce blessings in his name forever. ¹⁴But the sons of Moses the iman of God were named among the jtribe of Levi. ¹⁵The ksons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. ¹⁶The sons of Gershom: lShebuel the chief. ¹⁷The sons of Eliezer: Rehabiah the chief. Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. ¹⁸The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the chief. ¹⁹The msons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. ²⁰nThe sons of Uzziel: Micah the chief and Isshiah the second.

²¹oThe sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and pKish. ²²Eleazar died qhaving no sons, but only daughters; their rkinsmen, the sons of Kish, married them. ²³sThe sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth, three.

²⁴tThese were the sons of Levi by their fathers' houses, the heads of fathers' houses uas they were listed according to the number of the names of the individuals from vtwenty years old and upward who were to do the work for the service of the house of the Lord. ²⁵For David said, “The Lord, the God of Israel, whas given rest to his people, and he dwells in Jerusalem forever. ²⁶And so the Levites no longer need xto carry the tabernacle or any of the things for its service.” ²⁷For by the last words of David the sons of Levi were numbered from vtwenty years old and upward. ²⁸For their duty was to assist the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the Lord, having the care of the courts and the chambers, the cleansing of all that is holy, and any work for the service of the house of God. ²⁹Their duty was also to assist with the yshowbread, the zflour for the grain offering, the wafers of unleavened bread, the abaked offering, the boffering mixed with oil, and all cmeasures of quantity or size. ³⁰And they were to stand every morning, thanking and praising the Lord, and likewise at evening, ³¹and whenever burnt offerings were offered to the Lord don Sabbaths, enew moons, and feast days, faccording to the number required of them, regularly before the Lord. ³²Thus gthey were to keep charge of the tent of meeting and the sanctuary, and to attend the sons of Aaron, their brothers, for the hservice of the house of the Lord.