And he gathered together all the leaders of Israel with the priests and the Levites.

Offices of the Levites

(A)Now the Levites were counted from thirty years old and upward, and (B)their number by [a]head count of men was thirty-eight thousand. Of these, twenty-four thousand were (C)to oversee the work of the house of the Lord; and six thousand were (D)officers and judges, and four thousand were gatekeepers, and (E)four thousand were praising the Lord with the instruments which [b]David made for giving praise. David divided them into divisions (F)according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Chronicles 23:3 Lit their heads
  2. 1 Chronicles 23:5 Lit I made

David[a] assembled all the leaders of Israel, along with the priests and the Levites. The Levites who were thirty years old and up were counted; there were 38,000 men.[b] David said,[c] “Of these, 24,000 are to direct the work of the Lord’s temple; 6,000 are to be officials and judges; 4,000 are to be gatekeepers; and 4,000 are to praise the Lord with the instruments I supplied for worship.”[d] David divided them into groups corresponding to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Chronicles 23:2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  2. 1 Chronicles 23:3 tn Heb “and their number by their heads, by men, was 38,000.”
  3. 1 Chronicles 23:4 tn The words “David said” are supplied here in the translation for clarification. The appearance of the first person verb “I supplied” in v. 5 indicates that David is speaking here.
  4. 1 Chronicles 23:5 tn Heb “made to [or “for”] praise.”