⁵ “Go and tell My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(A)“Would you build a house for Me to dwell in?

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

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

⁷ Of the ^(G)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 (H)The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel—four in all. ¹³ The sons of ^(I)Amram: Aaron and Moses; and ^(J)Aaron was set apart, he and his sons forever, that he should ^[d]sanctify the most holy things, ^(K)to burn incense before the Lord, ^(L)to minister to Him, and ^(M)to give the blessing in His name forever. ¹⁴ Now ^(N)the sons of Moses the man of God were reckoned to the tribe of Levi. ^15 (O)The sons of Moses were ^[e]Gershon and Eliezer. ¹⁶ Of the sons of Gershon, ^(P)Shebuel^[f] was the first. ¹⁷ Of the descendants of Eliezer, ^(Q)Rehabiah was the first. And Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. ¹⁸ Of the sons of Izhar, ^(R)Shelomith was the first. ^19 (S)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 (T)The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and ^(U)Kish. ²² And Eleazar died, and ^(V)had no sons, but only daughters; and their ^[g]brethren, the sons of Kish, ^(W)took them as wives. ^23 (X)The sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth—three in all.

²⁴ These were the sons of ^(Y)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 ^(Z)twenty years and above.

²⁵ For David said, “The Lord God of Israel ^(AA)has given rest to His people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem forever”; ²⁶ and also to the Levites, “They shall no longer ^(AB)carry the tabernacle, or any of the articles for its service.” ²⁷ For by the ^(AC)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 ^(AD)the showbread and ^(AE)the fine flour for the grain offering, with ^(AF)the unleavened cakes and ^(AG)what is baked in the pan, with what is mixed and with all kinds of ^(AH)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 ^(AI)on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the ^(AJ)set^[h] feasts, by number according to the ordinance governing them, regularly before the Lord; ³² and that they should ^(AK)attend to the ^(AL)needs of the tabernacle of meeting, the needs of the holy place, and the ^(AM)needs of the sons of Aaron their brethren in the work of the house of the Lord.

⁷ And David said to Solomon: “My son, as for me, ^(A)it was in my mind to build a house ^(B)to the name of the Lord my God; ⁸ but the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ^(C)‘You have shed much blood and have made great wars; you shall not build a house for My name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight.

⁴ “Go and tell My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: “You shall ^(A)not build Me a house to dwell in.

¹⁶ ‘Since the day that I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have chosen no city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house, that ^(A)My name might be there; but I chose ^(B)David to be over My people Israel.’ ¹⁷ Now ^(C)it was in the heart of my father David to build a ^[a]temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ^18 (D)But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. ¹⁹ Nevertheless ^(E)you shall not build the temple, but your son who will come from your body, he shall build the temple for My name.’