1 Chronicles 26
Contemporary English Version
The Temple Guards Are Assigned Their Duties
26 The temple guards were also divided into groups according to clans.
Meshelemiah son of Kore was from the Korah clan and was a descendant of Asaph. 2 He had seven sons, who were born in the following order: Zechariah, Jediael, Zebadiah, Jathniel, 3 Elam, Jehohanan, and Eliehoenai.
4-5 (A) Obed-Edom had been blessed with eight sons: Shemaiah, Jehozabad, Joah, Sachar, Nethanel, Ammiel, Issachar, and Peullethai.
6-7 Shemaiah was the father of Othni, Rephael, Obed, Elzabad, Elihu, and Semachiah. They were all respected leaders in their clan. 8 There were 62 descendants of Obed-Edom who were strong enough to be guards at the temple.
9 Eighteen descendants of Meshelemiah were chosen for this work.
10-11 Hosah, from the Merari clan, was the father of Shimri, Hilkiah, Tebaliah, and Zechariah. Hosah had made Shimri the family leader, even though he was not the oldest son. Thirteen men from Hosah's family were chosen to be temple guards.
12 The guards were divided into groups, according to their family leaders, and they were assigned duties at the temple, just like the other Levites. 13 Each group, no matter how large or small, was assigned a gate to guard, and they let the Lord show them what he wanted done.[a]
14 Shelemiah[b] was chosen to guard the East Gate. Zechariah his son was a wise man and was chosen to guard the North Gate. 15 Obed-Edom was then chosen to guard the South Gate, and his sons were chosen to guard the storerooms. 16 Shuppim and Hosah were chosen to guard the West Gate and the Shallecheth Gate on the upper road.
The guards were assigned the following work schedule: 17 Each day six guards were on duty on the east side of the temple, four were on duty on the north side, and four were on duty on the south side. Two guards were stationed at each of the two storerooms, 18 four were stationed along the road leading to the west courtyard,[c] and two guards stayed in the court itself.
19 These were the guard duties assigned to the men from the clans of Korah and Merari.
Guards Are Assigned to the Treasury
20 The Levites who were relatives of the Korahites and the Merarites were[d] in charge of guarding the temple treasury and the gifts that had been dedicated to God.
21 Ladan was from the Gershon clan and was the father of Jehieli. Many of his other descendants were family leaders in the clan.[e] 22 Jehieli was the father of Zetham and Joel, and they were responsible for guarding the treasury.
23 Other guards at the treasury were from the Kohathite clans of Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
24 Shebuel was a descendant of Gershom the son of Moses. He was the chief official in charge of the temple treasury. 25 The descendants of Gershom's brother Eliezer included Rehabiah, Jeshaiah, Joram, Zichri, and Shelomoth.
26 Shelomoth and his relatives were in charge of all the gifts that were dedicated to the Lord. These included the gifts that King David had dedicated, as well as those dedicated by the family leaders, army officers, and army commanders. 27 And whenever valuable things were captured in battle, these men brought back some of them to make repairs to the temple. 28 Shelomoth and his relatives were responsible for any gifts that had been given to the temple, including those from Samuel the prophet, King Saul the son of Kish, Abner the son of Ner,[f] and Joab the son of Zeruiah.
Other Officers Are Assigned Their Duties
29 Chenaniah from the Izhar clan and his sons were government officials and judges. They did not work at the temple.
30 Hashabiah from the Hebron clan and 1,700 of his skilled relatives were the officials in charge of all religious and government business in the Israelite territories west of the Jordan River.
31-32 Jerijah was the leader of the Hebron clan. David assigned him and 2,700 of his relatives, who were all respected family leaders, to be the officials in charge of all religious and government business in the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. David found out about these men during the fortieth year of his rule, when he had a list made of all the families in the Hebron clan. They were from the town of Jazer in the territory of Gilead.
Footnotes
- 26.13 they let the Lord show them what he wanted done: The Hebrew text has “they cast lots to find out what the Lord wanted done” (see the note at 6.65).
- 26.14 Shelemiah: Another spelling for Meshelemiah.
- 26.18 courtyard: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 26.20 The Levites … were: One ancient translation; Hebrew “Ahijah the Levite was.”
- 26.21 Many of his other … clan: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 26.28 Abner the son of Ner: Abner was King Saul's uncle (see 9.39).
1 Chronicles 26
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 26
Classes of Gatekeepers. 1 These are the divisions of the gatekeepers.
From the Korahites, there was Meshelemiah, the son of Kore, one of the sons of Abiasaph. 2 The sons of Meshelemiah were Zechariah, his firstborn, Jediael, his second, Zebadiah, his third, Jathniel, his fourth, 3 Elam, his fifth, Jehohanan, his sixth, and Eliehoenai, his seventh.
4 Obed-edom also had sons. They were Shemaiah, his firstborn, Jehozabad, his second, Joah, his third, Sachar, his fourth, Nethanel, his fifth, 5 Ammiel, his sixth, Issachar, his seventh, and Peullethai, his eighth, for God blessed Obed-edom.
6 His son Shemaiah also had sons who became the leaders of the ancestral clans because they were most capable. 7 The sons of Shemaiah were Othni, Rephael, Obed, and Elzabad. His brethren Elihu and Semachiah were also capable men. 8 All of these were the descendants of Obed-edom. They and their brethren were capable men, strong enough to do their work. There were sixty-two descendants of Obed-edom in all.
9 Meshelemiah had eighteen sons and relatives who were capable men.
10 The sons of Hosah the Merarite were Shimri, his firstborn (although he was not really the firstborn, his father assigned him the honor of firstborn), 11 Hilkiah, the second, Tebaliah, the third, and Zechariah, the fourth. Hosah had thirteen sons and relatives in all.
12 These were the divisions of the gatekeepers according to their leaders. Their duties were to minister in the temple of the Lord. 13 They cast lots for the gates, the young and the old, according to their ancestral clans.
14 The lot for the East Gate fell to Meshelemiah. They then cast lots for his son Zechariah who was a wise counselor. His lot came out, and the North Gate was allotted to him. 15 The lot for the South Gate fell to Obed-edom, and that for the storehouse fell to his sons. 16 The lot for the West Gate and the Shallecheth Gate on the upper road fell to Shuppim and Hosah.
There were guards alongside of guards. 17 Each day there were six Levites to the east. Each day there were four to the north. Each day there were four to the south, and there were two at a time for the storehouse. 18 As for the courtyard[a] to the west, there were four on the roadway and two in the courtyard itself.
19 These were the divisions for the gatekeepers who were the descendants of Korah and the descendants of Merari.
20 Treasurers and Other Officials. Their fellow Levites supervised the treasury of the temple of God and the treasury of the dedicated objects. 21 The descendants of Ladan, who were Gershonites through Ladan and leaders of the ancestral clans of Ladan the Gershonite were Jehiel, 22 with the sons of Jehiel, who were Zetham and his brother Joel. They were responsible for the treasury of the temple of the Lord.
23 From the Amramites there were the Izharites, the Hebronites, and the Uzzielites.
24 Shubael, a descendant of Gershom, who was the son of Moses, was the supervisor of the treasury.
25 His relatives through Eliezer were Rehabiah, his son, Jeshaiah, his son, Joram, his son, Zichri, his son, and Shelomith, his son. 26 Shelomith and his brethren were responsible for the treasury of the dedicated objects. They had been dedicated by King David, by the leaders of the ancestral clans, by the captains of the thousands and the hundreds, and by the captains of the army. 27 Some of the spoils taken in battle had been dedicated for the maintenance of the temple of the Lord. 28 There were also all the things that had been dedicated by Samuel the seer, Saul, the son of Kish, Abner, the son of Ner, and Joab, the son of Zeruiah. Whatever had been dedicated was under the supervision of Shelomith and his brethren.
29 Magistrates. From the Izharites there were Chenaniah and his sons who were assigned responsibilities outside of the temple as officials and judges over Israel.
30 From the Hebronites there were Hashabiah and his relatives, one thousand seven hundred capable men, who were officials on the west side of the Jordan for all of the concerns involving the Lord and all of the service to the king.
31 From the Hebronites there was Jerijah, who was the leader of the Hebronites according to the generations of the ancestral clans.
In the fortieth year of the reign of David, a search was made, and some of their capable men were found in Jazer of Gilead. 32 He had two thousand seven hundred capable men among his brethren who were the leaders of the ancestral clans. King David made them responsible for any concern of God or any concern of the king among the Reubenites, the Gadites, and among one-half of the tribe of Manasseh.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 26:18 Courtyard: perhaps a colonnade attached to the western part of the outer courtyard of the temple.
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