¹⁷ And I gave them a command for Iddo the chief man at the place Casiphia, and ^[a]I told them what they should say to ^[b]Iddo and his brethren the Nethinim at the place Casiphia—that they should bring us servants for the house of our God.

^43 (A)The Nethinim: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth,

Qualified Elders

⁵ For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should ^(A)set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you—

The Lord Reassures Jeremiah

¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord:

⁹ Then the Lord put forth His hand and ^(A)touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me:

^7 (A)Some of the children of Israel, the priests, ^(B)the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and ^(C)the Nethinim came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.

⁵⁸ All the ^(A)Nethinim and the children of ^(B)Solomon’s servants were three hundred and ninety-two.

²⁶ and also to the Levites, “They shall no longer ^(A)carry the tabernacle, or any of the articles for its service.” ²⁷ For by the ^(B)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 ^(C)the showbread and ^(D)the fine flour for the grain offering, with ^(E)the unleavened cakes and ^(F)what is baked in the pan, with what is mixed and with all kinds of ^(G)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 ^(H)on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the ^(I)set^[a] feasts, by number according to the ordinance governing them, regularly before the Lord; ³² and that they should ^(J)attend to the ^(K)needs of the tabernacle of meeting, the needs of the holy place, and the ^(L)needs of the sons of Aaron their brethren in the work of the house of the Lord.

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.