1 Chronicles 25-27

Good News Translation

The Temple Musicians

25 King David and the leaders of the Levites chose the following Levite clans to lead the worship services: Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun. They were to proclaim God's messages, accompanied by the music of harps and cymbals. This is the list of persons chosen to lead the worship, with the type of service that each group performed:

² The four sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah. They were under the direction of Asaph, who proclaimed God's messages whenever the king commanded.

³ The six sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah. Under the direction of their father they proclaimed God's message, accompanied by the music of harps, and sang praise and thanks to the Lord.

⁴ The fourteen sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti Ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth. ⁵ God gave to Heman, the king's prophet, these fourteen sons and also three daughters, as he had promised, in order to give power to Heman. ⁶ All of his sons played cymbals and harps under their father's direction, to accompany the Temple worship. And Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under orders from the king.

⁷ All these twenty-four men were experts; and their fellow Levites were trained musicians. There were 288 men in all.

⁸ To determine the assignment of duties they all drew lots, whether they were young or old, experts or beginners.

^9-31 These 288 men were divided according to families into twenty-four groups of twelve, with a leader in charge of each group. This is the order in which they were on duty: 1) Joseph of the family of Asaph; 2) Gedaliah; 3) Zaccur; 4) Zeri; 5) Nethaniah; 6) Bukkiah; 7) Asharelah; 8) Jeshaiah; 9) Mattaniah; 10) Shimei; 11) Uzziel; 12) Hashabiah; 13) Shebuel; 14) Mattithiah; 15) Jerimoth; 16) Hananiah; 17) Joshbekashah; 18) Hanani; 19) Mallothi; 20) Eliathah; 21) Hothir; 22) Giddalti; 23) Mahazioth; 24) Romamti Ezer.

The Temple Guards

26 These are the assignments of work for the Levites who served as Temple guards. From the clan of Korah there was Meshelemiah son of Kore, of the family of Asaph. ² He had seven sons, listed in order of age: Zechariah, Jediael, Zebadiah, Jathniel, ³ Elam, Jehohanan, and Eliehoenai.

^4 (A)There was also Obed Edom, whom God blessed by giving him eight sons, listed in order of age: Shemaiah, Jehozabad, Joah, Sachar, Nethanel, ⁵ Ammiel, Issachar, and Peullethai.

^6-7 Obed Edom's oldest son, Shemaiah, had six sons: Othni, Rephael, Obed, Elzabad, Elihu, and Semachiah. They were important men in their clan because of their great ability; the last two were especially talented.

⁸ Obed Edom's family furnished a total of sixty-two highly qualified men for this work.

⁹ Meshelemiah's family furnished eighteen qualified men.

¹⁰ From the clan of Merari there was Hosah, who had four sons: Shimri (his father made him the leader, even though he was not the oldest son), ¹¹ Hilkiah, Tebaliah, and Zechariah. In all there were thirteen members of Hosah's family who were Temple guards.

¹² The Temple guards were divided into groups, according to families, and they were assigned duties in the Temple, just as the other Levites were. ¹³ Each family, regardless of size, drew lots to see which gate it would be responsible for. ¹⁴ Shelemiah drew the east gate, and his son Zechariah, a man who always gave good advice, drew the north gate. ¹⁵ Obed Edom was allotted the south gate, and his sons were allotted to guard the storerooms. ¹⁶ Shuppim and Hosah were allotted the west gate and the Shallecheth Gate on the upper road. Guard duty was divided into assigned periods, one after another. ¹⁷ On the east, six guards were on duty each day, on the north, four, and on the south, four. Four guards were stationed at the storerooms daily, two at each storeroom. ¹⁸ Near the western pavilion there were four guards by the road and two at the pavilion itself. ¹⁹ This is the assignment of guard duty to the clan of Korah and the clan of Merari.

Other Temple Duties

²⁰ Others of their fellow Levites^[a] were in charge of the Temple treasury and the storerooms for gifts dedicated to God. ²¹ Ladan, one of the sons of Gershon, was the ancestor of several family groups, including the family of his son Jehiel. ²² Ladan's two other sons, Zetham and Joel, had charge of the Temple treasury and storerooms.

²³ Duties were also assigned to the descendants of Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

²⁴ Shebuel, of the clan of Moses' son Gershom, was the chief official responsible for the Temple treasury. ²⁵ Through Gershom's brother Eliezer he was related to Shelomith. Eliezer was the father of Rehabiah, who was the father of Jeshaiah, the father of Joram, the father of Zichri, the father of Shelomith. ²⁶ Shelomith and the members of his family were in charge of all the gifts dedicated to God by King David, the heads of families, leaders of clan groups, and army officers. ²⁷ They took some of the loot they captured in battle and dedicated it for use in the Temple. ²⁸ Shelomith and his family were in charge of everything that had been dedicated for use in the Temple, including the gifts brought by the prophet Samuel, by King Saul, by Abner son of Ner, and by Joab son of Zeruiah.

Duties of Other Levites

²⁹ Among the descendants of Izhar, Chenaniah and his sons were assigned administrative duties: keeping records and settling disputes for the people of Israel.

³⁰ Among the descendants of Hebron, Hashabiah and seventeen hundred of his relatives, all outstanding men, were put in charge of the administration of all religious and civil matters in Israel west of the Jordan River. ³¹ Jeriah was the leader of the descendants of Hebron. In the fortieth year that David was king, an investigation was made of the family line of Hebron's descendants, and outstanding soldiers belonging to this family were found living at Jazer in the territory of Gilead. ³² King David chose twenty-seven hundred outstanding heads of families from Jeriah's relatives and put them in charge of administering all religious and civil matters in Israel east of the Jordan River—the territories of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh.

Military and Civil Organization

27 This is the list of the Israelite heads of families and clan leaders and their officials who administered the work of the kingdom. Each month of the year a different group of twenty-four thousand men was on duty under the commander for that month.

^2-15 The following were the commanders for each month:

Administration of the Tribes of Israel

^16-22 This is the list of the administrators of the tribes of Israel:

^23 (B)King David did not take a census of the people who were under the age of twenty, because of the Lord's promise to make the people of Israel as numerous as the stars in the sky. ^24 (C)Joab, whose mother was Zeruiah, began to take a census, but he did not complete it. God punished Israel because of this census, so the final figures were never recorded in King David's official records.

Administrators of the Royal Property

^25-31 This is the list of those who administered the royal property:

David's Personal Advisers

³² Jonathan, King David's uncle, was a skillful adviser and a scholar. He and Jehiel son of Hachmoni were in charge of the education of the king's sons. ³³ Ahithophel was adviser to the king, and Hushai the Archite was the king's friend and counselor. ³⁴ After Ahithophel died, Abiathar and Jehoiada son of Benaiah became advisers. Joab was commander of the royal army.