²⁴ “This is what pertains to the Levites: ^(A)From twenty-five years old and above one may enter to perform service in the work of the tabernacle of meeting;

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.

^3 (A)from thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting.

³ You therefore must ^(A)endure^[a] hardship ^(B)as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. ^4 (C)No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. ⁵ And also ^(D)if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

^4 (A)For the weapons ^(B)of our warfare are not ^[a]carnal but ^(C)mighty in God ^(D)for pulling down strongholds,

⁷ Who ever ^(A)goes to war at his own expense? Who ^(B)plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who ^(C)tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?

¹² and the ^(A)plans for all that he had by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, of all the chambers all around, ^(B)of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries for the dedicated things; ¹³ also for the division of the priests and the ^(C)Levites, for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and for all the articles of service in the house of the Lord.

²⁴ These were the sons of ^(A)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 ^(B)twenty years and above.

²⁵ For David said, “The Lord God of Israel ^(C)has given rest to His people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem forever”; ²⁶ and also to the Levites, “They shall no longer ^(D)carry the tabernacle, or any of the articles for its service.” ²⁷ For by the ^(E)last words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above;

^23 (A)From thirty years old and above, even to fifty years old, you shall number them, all who enter to perform the service, to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting.