²² All those chosen as gatekeepers were two hundred and twelve. ^(A)They were recorded by their genealogy, in their villages. David and Samuel ^(B)the seer had appointed them to their trusted office.

⁹ (Formerly in Israel, when a man ^(A)went ^[a]to inquire of God, he spoke thus: “Come, let us go to the seer”; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called ^(B)a seer.)

¹³ also for the division of the priests and the ^(A)Levites, for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and for all the articles of service in the house of the Lord.

The Divisions of the Levites

23 So when David was old and full of days, he made his son ^(A)Solomon king over Israel.

² And he gathered together all the leaders of Israel, with the priests and the Levites. ³ Now the Levites were numbered from the age of ^(B)thirty years and above; and the number of individual males was thirty-eight thousand. ⁴ Of these, twenty-four thousand were to ^(C)look after the work of the house of the Lord, six thousand were ^(D)officers and judges, ⁵ four thousand were gatekeepers, and four thousand ^(E)praised the Lord with musical instruments, ^(F)“which I made,” said David, “for giving praise.”

⁶ Also ^(G)David separated them into ^[a]divisions among the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷ Of the ^(H)Gershonites: ^[b]Laadan and Shimei. ⁸ The sons of Laadan: the first Jehiel, then Zetham and Joel—three in all. ⁹ The sons of Shimei: Shelomith, Haziel, and Haran—three in all. These were the heads of the fathers’ houses of Laadan. ¹⁰ And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, ^[c]Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These were the four sons of Shimei. ¹¹ Jahath was the first and Zizah the second. But Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons; therefore they were assigned as one father’s house.

^12 (I)The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel—four in all. ¹³ The sons of ^(J)Amram: Aaron and Moses; and ^(K)Aaron was set apart, he and his sons forever, that he should ^[d]sanctify the most holy things, ^(L)to burn incense before the Lord, ^(M)to minister to Him, and ^(N)to give the blessing in His name forever. ¹⁴ Now ^(O)the sons of Moses the man of God were reckoned to the tribe of Levi. ^15 (P)The sons of Moses were ^[e]Gershon and Eliezer. ¹⁶ Of the sons of Gershon, ^(Q)Shebuel^[f] was the first. ¹⁷ Of the descendants of Eliezer, ^(R)Rehabiah was the first. And Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. ¹⁸ Of the sons of Izhar, ^(S)Shelomith was the first. ^19 (T)Of the sons of Hebron, Jeriah was the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. ²⁰ Of the sons of Uzziel, Michah was the first and Jesshiah the second.

^21 (U)The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and ^(V)Kish. ²² And Eleazar died, and ^(W)had no sons, but only daughters; and their ^[g]brethren, the sons of Kish, ^(X)took them as wives. ^23 (Y)The sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth—three in all.

²⁴ These were the sons of ^(Z)Levi by their fathers’ houses—the heads of the fathers’ houses as they were counted individually by the number of their names, who did the work for the service of the house of the Lord, from the age of ^(AA)twenty years and above.

²⁵ For David said, “The Lord God of Israel ^(AB)has given rest to His people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem forever”; ²⁶ and also to the Levites, “They shall no longer ^(AC)carry the tabernacle, or any of the articles for its service.” ²⁷ For by the ^(AD)last words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above; ²⁸ because their duty was to help the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of the Lord, in the courts and in the chambers, in the purifying of all holy things and the work of the service of the house of God, ²⁹ both with ^(AE)the showbread and ^(AF)the fine flour for the grain offering, with ^(AG)the unleavened cakes and ^(AH)what is baked in the pan, with what is mixed and with all kinds of ^(AI)measures and sizes; ³⁰ to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at evening; ³¹ and at every presentation of a burnt offering to the Lord ^(AJ)on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the ^(AK)set^[h] feasts, by number according to the ordinance governing them, regularly before the Lord; ³² and that they should ^(AL)attend to the ^(AM)needs of the tabernacle of meeting, the needs of the holy place, and the ^(AN)needs of the sons of Aaron their brethren in the work of the house of the Lord.

Temple Responsibilities

^44 (A)And at the same time some were appointed over the rooms of the storehouse for the offerings, the firstfruits, and the ^(B)tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions specified by the Law for the priests and Levites; for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who ^[a]ministered.

²⁸ And the sons of the singers gathered together from the countryside around Jerusalem, from the ^(A)villages of the Netophathites, ²⁹ from the house of Gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth; for the singers had built themselves villages all around Jerusalem.

³⁶ Some of the Judean divisions of Levites were in Benjamin.

The People Dwelling Outside Jerusalem

²⁵ And as for the villages with their fields, some of the children of Judah dwelt in ^(A)Kirjath Arba and its villages, Dibon and its villages, Jekabzeel and its villages; ²⁶ in Jeshua, Moladah, Beth Pelet, ²⁷ Hazar Shual, and Beersheba and its villages; ²⁸ in Ziklag and Meconah and its villages; ²⁹ in En Rimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth, ³⁰ Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages; in Lachish and its fields; in Azekah and its villages. They dwelt from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom.

¹⁸ and to all who were written in the genealogy—their little ones and their wives, their sons and daughters, the whole company of them—for in their faithfulness they ^[a]sanctified themselves in holiness.