Historical

Rules for the priests

24 Aaron's descendants, the priests, were in the following groups.

Aaron's four sons were: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ² But Nadab and Abihu died before their father died. They had no sons. So Eleazar and Ithamar served God as priests.

³ Zadok and Ahimelech helped David to put Aaron's descendants into groups. Zadok was a descendant of Eleazar. Ahimelech was a descendant of Ithamar. They told each group what their work would be to serve God. ⁴ There were more leaders among Eleazar's descendants than among Ithamar's descendants. So from Eleazar's descendants, there were 16 groups with their leaders. From Ithamar's descendants there were eight groups with their leaders. ⁵ They used lots to decide the work of each group. The families of both Eleazar and Ithamar included officers for the temple as well as priests.

⁶ Shemaiah was the secretary who wrote down the names in each group. He was the son of Nethanel, a Levite. Shemaiah wrote down the names while the king and his officers watched. Zadok the priest, Abiathar's son Ahimelech and the leaders of the priests' clans and of the other Levite clans were also watching. When they threw the lots, they would choose a family from Eleazar's descendants, then a family from Ithamar's descendants, and so on.

^7-18 This is the list of the group leaders as they chose them, one by one:

¹⁹ Each of these leaders, with their group, had their jobs to do in the temple. They had to obey the rules that their ancestor Aaron had given. The Lord, Israel's God, had told him what they must do.

The other Levites

²⁰ The leaders of the other Levite families included:^[a]

That is the list of the Levites, with the leaders of each family.

³¹ They also used lots to choose their different jobs, as their relatives, Aaron's descendants, had done. King David, Zadok, Ahimelech and the family leaders of the priests and the other Levites watched them. They chose work for the family leaders in the same way that they did for their younger brothers.

Groups of temple musicians

25 David and the army officers chose some Levites to serve God as musicians. They belonged to the families of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun. They chose these men to speak messages from God while they made music with harps, lyres and cymbals. Here is a list of the men that they chose for this work:

² From Asaph's sons, there were: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah and Asarelah. Asaph had authority over their work. He would speak a message from God when the king told him to do that.

³ From Jeduthun's sons, there were six musicians: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah and Mattithiah. Their father Jeduthun had authority over their work. He spoke messages from God while he made music with a harp. He also sang to thank the Lord and to praise him.

⁴ From Heman's sons, there were: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-Ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir and Mahazioth. ⁵ All those men were sons of Heman, the king's prophet. God had promised to give Heman many children who would give him honour. God gave him 14 sons and three daughters.

⁶ All these musicians were under the authority of their fathers. They used cymbals, harps and lyres to make music to worship the Lord in his temple. The king had authority over Asaph, Jeduthun and Heman. ⁷ All those men had skills to make good music, as well as their relatives. There were 288 Levites who served the Lord as musicians. ⁸ They used lots to decide the right work for each musician. They chose work for everyone in the same way: the young men and the older men, the teachers and the students.

^9-31 They chose 24 groups of musicians. There were 12 musicians in each group and each group had its leader. These were the names of the leaders of each group, from the first to the last that they chose: