^30 (A)Thus I cleansed them of everything pagan. I also ^(B)assigned duties to the priests and the Levites, each to his service,

³⁰ We would not give ^(A)our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons;

The Priests and Levites^(A)

12 Now these are the ^(B)priests and the Levites who came up with ^(C)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: ^(D)Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, ² Amariah, ^[a]Malluch, Hattush, ^3 [b]Shechaniah, ^[c]Rehum, ^[d]Meremoth, ⁴ Iddo, ^[e]Ginnethoi, ^(E)Abijah, ^5 [f]Mijamin, ^[g]Maadiah, Bilgah, ⁶ Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah, ^7 [h]Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah.

These were the heads of the priests and their brethren in the days of ^(F)Jeshua.

⁸ Moreover the Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah ^(G)who led the thanksgiving psalms, he and his brethren. ⁹ Also Bakbukiah and Unni, their brethren, stood across from them in their duties.

¹⁰ Jeshua begot Joiakim, Joiakim begot Eliashib, Eliashib begot Joiada, ¹¹ Joiada begot Jonathan, and Jonathan begot Jaddua.

¹² Now in the days of Joiakim, the priests, the ^(H)heads of the fathers’ houses were: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah; ¹³ of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan; ¹⁴ of ^[i]Melichu, Jonathan; of ^[j]Shebaniah, Joseph; ¹⁵ of ^[k]Harim, Adna; of ^[l]Meraioth, Helkai; ¹⁶ of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam; ¹⁷ of Abijah, Zichri; the son of ^[m]Minjamin; of ^[n]Moadiah, Piltai; ¹⁸ of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan; ¹⁹ of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi; ²⁰ of ^[o]Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber; ²¹ of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; and of Jedaiah, Nethanel.

²² During the reign of Darius the Persian, a record was also kept of the Levites and priests who had been ^(I)heads of their fathers’ houses in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua. ²³ The sons of Levi, the heads of the fathers’ houses until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib, were written in the book of the ^(J)chronicles.

²⁴ And the heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers across from them, to ^(K)praise and give thanks, ^(L)group^[p] alternating with group, ^(M)according to the command of David the man of God. ²⁵ Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers keeping the watch at the storerooms of the gates. ²⁶ These lived in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of ^[q]Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah ^(N)the governor, and of Ezra the priest, ^(O)the scribe.

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.”