1 Chronicles 23
New American Standard Bible
Solomon Reigns
23 (A)Now when David [a]reached old age, (B)he made his son Solomon king over Israel. 2 And he gathered together all the leaders of Israel with the priests and the Levites.
Offices of the Levites
3 (C)Now the Levites were counted from thirty years old and upward, and (D)their number by [b]head count of men was thirty-eight thousand. 4 Of these, twenty-four thousand were (E)to oversee the work of the house of the Lord; and six thousand were (F)officers and judges, 5 and four thousand were gatekeepers, and (G)four thousand were praising the Lord with the instruments which [c]David made for giving praise. 6 David divided them into divisions (H)according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
Gershonites
7 Of the Gershonites there were [d]Ladan and Shimei. 8 The sons of Ladan were Jehiel the first, and Zetham and Joel, three. 9 The sons of Shimei were Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers’ households of Ladan. 10 The sons of Shimei were Jahath, [e]Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei. 11 Jahath was the first and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they became a father’s household, one group for duty.
Kohathites
12 The sons of Kohath were four in number: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 13 (I)The sons of Amram were Aaron and Moses. And (J)Aaron was set apart to sanctify him as most holy, he and his sons forever, (K)to burn incense before the Lord, to serve Him and bless in His name forever. 14 But as for (L)Moses, the man of God, his sons were named among the tribe of Levi. 15 The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer. 16 The [f]son of Gershom was [g]Shebuel the chief. 17 The [h]son of Eliezer was Rehabiah the chief; and Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. 18 The [i]son of Izhar was [j]Shelomith the chief. 19 The sons of Hebron were Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. 20 The sons of Uzziel were Micah the first and Isshiah the second.
Merarites
21 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish. 22 Eleazar died and had no sons, but only daughters; so their relatives, the sons of Kish, took them as wives. 23 The sons of Mushi were three: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth.
Duties Revised
24 (M)These were the sons of Levi according to their fathers’ households, the heads of the fathers’ households of those among them who were [k]counted, in the number of names by their [l]head count, doing the work for the service of the house of the Lord, (N)from twenty years old and upward. 25 For David said, “The Lord God of Israel (O)has given rest to His people, and He dwells in Jerusalem forever. 26 Also, (P)the Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all its utensils for its service.” 27 For by the last words of David, the sons of Levi were counted from twenty years old and upward. 28 For their office is [m]to assist the sons of Aaron with the service of the house of the Lord, in the courtyards and in the chambers, and in the purification of all holy things, and the work of the service of the house of God, 29 (Q)and with the showbread, and (R)the fine flour for a grain offering, and unleavened wafers, or (S)what is baked in the pan or (T)what is well-mixed, and (U)all measures of volume and size. 30 They are to stand every morning to thank and to praise the Lord, and likewise at evening, 31 and to offer all burnt offerings to the Lord, (V)on the Sabbaths, the new moons and (W)the appointed festivals, in the number determined by the ordinance concerning them, continually before the Lord. 32 So (X)they are to perform the [n]duties of the tent of meeting, the holy place, and (Y)of assisting the sons of Aaron their relatives, for the service of the house of the Lord.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 23:1 Lit became old and sated with days
- 1 Chronicles 23:3 Lit their heads
- 1 Chronicles 23:5 Lit I made
- 1 Chronicles 23:7 In Ex 6:17, Libni
- 1 Chronicles 23:10 In v 11, Zizah
- 1 Chronicles 23:16 Lit sons
- 1 Chronicles 23:16 In 24:20, Shubael
- 1 Chronicles 23:17 Lit sons...were
- 1 Chronicles 23:18 Lit sons
- 1 Chronicles 23:18 In 24:22, Shelomoth
- 1 Chronicles 23:24 Lit mustered
- 1 Chronicles 23:24 Lit heads
- 1 Chronicles 23:28 Lit at the hand of
- 1 Chronicles 23:32 Lit duty of...the duty of...
1 Chronicles 23
New Living Translation
Duties of the Levites
23 When David was an old man, he appointed his son Solomon to be king over Israel. 2 David summoned all the leaders of Israel, together with the priests and Levites. 3 All the Levites who were thirty years old or older were counted, and the total came to 38,000. 4 Then 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. 5 Another 4,000 will work as gatekeepers, and 4,000 will praise the Lord with the musical instruments I have made.” 6 Then David divided the Levites into divisions named after the clans descended from the three sons of Levi—Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
The Gershonites
7 The Gershonite family units were defined by their lines of descent from Libni[a] and Shimei, the sons of Gershon. 8 Three of the descendants of Libni were Jehiel (the family leader), Zetham, and Joel. 9 These were the leaders of the family of Libni.
Three of the descendants of Shimei were Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran. 10 Four other descendants of Shimei were Jahath, Ziza,[b] Jeush, and Beriah. 11 Jahath was the family leader, and Ziza was next. Jeush and Beriah were counted as a single family because neither had many sons.
The Kohathites
12 Four of the descendants of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
13 The 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.
14 As for Moses, the man of God, his sons were included with the tribe of Levi. 15 The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer. 16 The descendants of Gershom included Shebuel, the family leader. 17 Eliezer had only one son, Rehabiah, the family leader. Rehabiah had numerous descendants.
18 The descendants of Izhar included Shelomith, the family leader.
19 The descendants of Hebron included Jeriah (the family leader), Amariah (the second), Jahaziel (the third), and Jekameam (the fourth).
20 The descendants of Uzziel included Micah (the family leader) and Isshiah (the second).
The Merarites
21 The descendants of Merari included Mahli and Mushi.
The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish. 22 Eleazar died with no sons, only daughters. His daughters married their cousins, the sons of Kish.
23 Three of the descendants of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.
24 These 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. 25 For David said, “The Lord, the God of Israel, has given us peace, and he will always live in Jerusalem. 26 Now the Levites will no longer need to carry the Tabernacle and its furnishings from place to place.” 27 In accordance with David’s final instructions, all the Levites twenty years old or older were registered for service.
28 The 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. 29 They 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. 30 And each morning and evening they stood before the Lord to sing songs of thanks and praise to him. 31 They 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.
32 And so, under the supervision of the priests, the Levites watched over the Tabernacle and the Temple[c] and faithfully carried out their duties of service at the house of the Lord.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
