Groups of temple guards

26 These are the groups of guards for the entrances of the temple:^[a]

From Korah's descendants there was Kore's son Meshelemiah, who was a descendant of Asaph.

² Meshelemiah's seven sons were: Zechariah (his firstborn son), then Jediael (his second son), Zebadiah (his third son), Jathniel (his fourth son), ³ Elam (his fifth son), Jehohanan (his sixth son) and Eliehoenai (his seventh son).

⁴ Obed-Edom's sons were: Shemaiah (his firstborn son), Jehozabad (his second son), Joah (his third son), Sachar (his fourth son), Nethanel (his fifth son), ⁵ Ammiel (his sixth son), Issachar (his seventh son) and Peullethai (his eighth son). God blessed Obed-Edom with those eight sons.

^6-7 Obed-Edom's son Shemaiah had four sons. They were called Othni, Rephael, Obed and Elzabad. They were leaders in their clan, because they were brave men. People respected them very much. People also respected their relatives, Elihu and Semakiah.

⁸ There were 62 descendants of Obed-Edom. People respected them, as well as their sons and their relatives. They could all do their work well.

⁹ Meshelemiah had 18 sons and relatives. People respected them as men who could work well.

¹⁰ From Merari's descendants there was Hosah. He had four sons: Shimri was his firstborn son. His father chose him to be the leader among his sons, but he was not the oldest of them. ¹¹ Hilkiah was Hosah's second son, Tebaliah was his third son and Zechariah was his fourth son. 13 men from among Hosah's sons and relatives worked as guards for the temple.

¹² Each group of guards had a leader. Like the other Levites, each group had a job to do as they served the Lord in his temple. ¹³ They used lots to decide which family group would be the guards for each gate of the temple. They chose the jobs for everyone in the same way, important people and ordinary people.

¹⁴ They chose Shelemiah's group to be guards for the East gate. They chose his son Zechariah's group for the North gate. Zechariah was a wise man who gave good advice. ¹⁵ They chose Obed-Edom's group to be guards at the South gate. They chose his sons to be guards for the rooms where they kept valuable things. ¹⁶ They chose Shuppim's group and Hosah's group to be guards at the West gate, as well as the Shalleketh Gate on the higher road.

They chose the times for each group of guards to work each day. ¹⁷ Six Levites watched the east side of the temple. Four men watched the north side and four men watched the south side. Two guards worked together at each room where they kept valuable things. ¹⁸ There were four guards on the road near the yard at the west side of the temple. And there were two guards in the yard.

¹⁹ That was the work of the different groups of guards who were descendants of Korah and Merari.

Other work for the Levites

²⁰ Other Levites kept the valuable things in the temple safe. That included the money and the gifts that people had offered to God.

²¹ One group of these men were descendants of Ladan, who belonged to Gershon's clan. These were the leaders of those families: Jehieli, ²² and his sons, Zetham and Joel (his younger brother). They had authority for the rooms where they kept the money and other valuable things in the Lord's temple.

²³ The other guards for those rooms were descendants of Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. ²⁴ Shebuel was a descendant of Moses' son Gershom. He was the leader with authority to keep the money safe. ²⁵ His relatives were descendants of Gershom's brother Eliezer. They were: Eliezer's son Rehabiah, Rebaiah's son Jeshaiah, Jeshaiah's son Joram, Joram's son Zikri, and Zikri's son Shelomoth. ²⁶ Shelomoth and his relatives had authority for all the holy things that people had offered as gifts to God. King David, the leaders of clans and army officers had given those things to God. ²⁷ When the Israelites won battles, they took valuable things from their enemies. They brought some of those things to the Lord's temple to make it strong. ²⁸ There were also gifts that Samuel the prophet, Kish's son Saul, Ner's son Abner and Zeruiah's son Joab had offered to the Lord. Shelomoth and his relatives had authority to keep safe everything that had been offered to the Lord.

²⁹ There were also descendants of Izhar: Kenaniah and his sons did not work in the temple. Instead they served as judges and officers in different places in Israel.

³⁰ There were descendants of Hebron: Hashabiah and his relatives served as officers on the west side of the Jordan River. There were 1,700 of those men who could work well. They had authority for the work the people did to serve the Lord and the king. ³¹ Jeriah was the leader among Hebron's descendants. The records of their ancestors showed that this was true. When David had been king for 40 years, people read those records carefully. They realized that there were descendants of Hebron who were living at Jazer in Gilead region, and people respected them very much. ³² There were 2,700 men from Jeriah's clan who were good leaders in their families. King David chose them to be officers with authority for the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh.^[b] They had authority for all the work that people did to serve the Lord and the king.