The Divisions of the Levites
1 So when David was old and full of days, he made his sonSolomon 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 ofthirty years and above; and the number of individual males was thirty-eight thousand.
4 Of these, twenty-four thousandweretolook after the work of the house of theLord, six thousandwereofficers and judges,
5 four thousandweregatekeepers, and four thousandpraised theLordwithmusicalinstruments,“which I made,”saidDavid,“for giving praise.”
6 AlsoDavid separated them into divisions among the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
7 Of theGershonites: Laadan and Shimei.
8 The sons of Laadan: the first Jehiel, then Zetham and Joel—threeinall.
9 The sons of Shimei: Shelomith, Haziel, and Haran—threeinall.These were the heads of the fathers’housesof Laadan.
10 And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. Thesewerethe 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 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel—fourinall.
13 The sons ofAmram: Aaron and Moses; andAaron was set apart, he and his sons forever, that he should sanctify the most holy things,to burn incense before theLord,to minister to Him, andto give the blessing in His name forever.
14 Nowthe sons of Moses the man of God were reckoned to the tribe of Levi.
15 The sons of MoseswereGershon and Eliezer.
16 Of the sons of Gershon,Shebuelwasthe first.
17 Of the descendants of Eliezer,Rehabiah was the first. And Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.
18 Of the sons of Izhar,Shelomithwasthe first.
19 Of the sons of Hebron, Jeriahwasthe first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.
20 Of the sons of Uzziel, Michahwasthe first and Jesshiah the second.
21 The sons of MerariwereMahli and Mushi. The sons of MahliwereEleazar andKish.
22 And Eleazar died, andhad no sons, but only daughters; and their brethren, the sons of Kish,took themaswives.
23 The sons of MushiwereMahli, Eder, and Jeremoth—threeinall.
24 Thesewerethe sons ofLevi by their fathers’ houses—the heads of the fathers’housesas they were counted individually by the number of their names, who did the work for the service of the house of theLord, from the age oftwenty years and above.
25 For David said, “TheLordGod of Israelhas given rest to His people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem forever”;
26 and also to the Levites, “They shall no longercarry the tabernacle, or any of the articles for its service.”
27 For by thelast words of David the Leviteswerenumbered from twenty years old and above;
28 because their dutywasto help the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of theLord, 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 withthe showbread andthe fine flour for the grain offering, withthe unleavened cakes andwhatisbakedinthe pan, with what is mixed and with all kinds ofmeasures and sizes;
30 to stand every morning to thank and praise theLord, and likewise at evening;
31 and at every presentation of a burnt offering to theLordon the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on theset feasts, by number according to the ordinance governing them, regularly before theLord;
32 and that they shouldattend to theneeds of the tabernacle of meeting, the needs of the holyplace,and theneeds of the sons of Aaron their brethren in the work of the house of theLord.