1 Chronicles 23

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

2And he gathered all the leaders of Israel, and the priests and the Levites.

3The Levites were counted from thirty years old and upward, and their number by heads, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand.

4Of these, twenty-four thousand were to oversee the work of the house of Yahweh, and six thousand were officers and judges.

5and four thousand gatekeepers, and four thousand praising Yahweh with the instruments that I made to praise him.

6David divided them into divisions for the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

7For the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei.

8The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the head, 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, Jeush, and Beriah. These were the sons of Shimei—four.

11Jahath was the first and Zizah the second; Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they became one father’s house for one reckoning.

12The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel—four.

13The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. And Aaron was set apart, he and his sons forever, to sanctify him as most holy, to burn incense before Yahweh, to minister to him, and to bless in his name forever.

14And as for Moses, the man of God, his sons were counted among the tribe of Levi.

15The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer.

16The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the chief.

17The sons of Eliezer: Rehabiah was the chief, and Eliezer had no other sons; but the sons of Rehabiah became very many.

18The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the chief.

19The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.

20The sons of Uzziel: Micah the first, and Isshiah the second.

21The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish.

22Eleazar died and had no sons, but only daughters; and the sons of Kish, their brothers, married them.

23The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth—three.

24These were the sons of Levi by their fathers’ houses, the heads of the fathers’ houses, according to those counted of them, by the number of names, head by head, doing the work for the service of the house of Yahweh, from twenty years old and upward.

25For David said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people, and he has dwelt in Jerusalem forever.”

26And also, the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all its utensils for its service.

27For by the last words of David, the sons of Levi were numbered from twenty years old and upward.

28For their duty was to assist the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of Yahweh, concerning the courts and the chambers, and the purification of all that is holy, and the work of the service of the house of God.

29and for the bread of the arrangement, and for the fine flour for the grain offering, and for the wafers of unleavened bread, and for what is cooked on the griddle, and for what is well-mixed, and for every measure and size,

30and to stand every morning to give thanks and to praise Yahweh, and likewise at evening,

31and for all the burnt offerings offered to Yahweh on the Sabbaths, at the new moons, and at the appointed feasts, by number according to the ordinance concerning them, continually before Yahweh.

32And they were to keep charge of the tent of meeting, the charge of the holy place, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brothers, for the service of the house of Yahweh.