¹⁶ Then David spoke to the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers accompanied by instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals, by raising the voice with resounding joy. ¹⁷ So the Levites appointed ^(A)Heman the son of Joel; and of his brethren, ^(B)Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of their brethren, the sons of Merari, ^(C)Ethan the son of Kushaiah; ¹⁸ and with them their brethren of the second rank: Zechariah, ^[a]Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Elipheleh, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, the gatekeepers; ¹⁹ the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were to sound the cymbals of bronze; ²⁰ Zechariah, ^[b]Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with strings according to ^(D)Alamoth; ²¹ Mattithiah, Elipheleh, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, to direct with harps on the ^(E)Sheminith; ²² Chenaniah, leader of the Levites, was instructor in charge of the music, because he was skillful;

²⁷ David was clothed with a robe of fine ^(A)linen, as were all the Levites who bore the ark, the singers, and Chenaniah the music master with the singers. David also wore a linen ephod.

⁴ And he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, to ^(A)commemorate, to thank, and to praise the Lord God of Israel: ⁵ Asaph the chief, and next to him Zechariah, then ^(B)Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, and Obed-Edom: Jeiel with stringed instruments and harps, but Asaph made music with cymbals; ⁶ Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests regularly blew the trumpets before the ark of the covenant of God.