1 Chronicles 23

1 David was a very old man [DOU] when he appointed his son Solomon to be the next king.

When David was old and near the end of his life, he made Solomon his son king over Israel.

2 David gathered the leaders of Israel and the priests and other descendants of Levi.

He gathered together all the leaders of Israel, with the priests and Levites.

3 He [commanded some of his officials to] count the descendants of Levi who were at least thirty years old, and they found out that there were 38,000 of them.

The Levites who were thirty years old and older were counted. They numbered thirty-eight thousand.

4 Then David said, “From those 38,000 men, I want 24,000 of them to supervise the work at the temple of Yahweh, and I want 6,000 of them to be officials and judges.

“Of these, twenty-four thousand were to oversee the work of Yahweh's house, and six thousand were officers and judges.

5 I want 4,000 to be guards at the gates, and 4,000 to praise Yahweh, using the musical instruments that I have provided for them.”

Four thousand were gatekeepers, and four thousand were to praise Yahweh with the instruments that I made to give praise,” David said.

6 David divided the descendants of Levi into three family groups; each group consisted of men who were descendants of one of the three sons of Levi—Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

He divided them into groups that corresponded to Levi's sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

7 From the descendants of Gershon there were Ladan and Shimei.

From the clans descended from Gershon, there were Ladan and Shimei.

8 There were three sons of Ladan: Jehiel was the oldest, and his [younger] brothers Zetham and Joel.

There were three of Ladan's sons: Jehiel the leader, Zetham, and Joel.

9 There were three of the sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran. They were all leaders of the clans of Ladan.

There were three of Shimei's sons: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran. These were the leaders of the clans of Ladan.

10 There were four men who were other sons of Shimei:

There were four of Shimei's sons: Jahath, Ziza, Jeush, and Beriah.

11 Jahath, who was his oldest son, and his [younger] brothers Ziza, Jeush, and Beriah. Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they were counted as though they were one family.

Jahath was the oldest, and Ziza the second, but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they were considered as one clan with the same duties.

12 Kohath had four sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

There were four of Kohath's sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

13 There were two sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his descendants were set apart to dedicate the very holy things, to offer sacrifices to Yahweh, to serve in his presence, and to declare [to the people] what Yahweh [MTY] would do to bless them. They were to do those things forever.

These were Amram's sons: Aaron and Moses. Aaron was chosen to set apart the most holy things, that he and his descendants would offer incense before Yahweh, to serve him and to give blessings in his name forever.

14 The sons of Moses, the man who served God [well], were counted as part of the tribe of Levi.

But as for Moses the man of God, his sons were considered to be Levites.

15 The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer.

Moses' sons were Gershom and Eliezer.

16 The oldest son of Gershom was Shubael.

Gershom's descendant was Shubael the oldest.

17 Rehabiah was the oldest son of Eliezer. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had many sons.

Eliezer's descendant was Rehabiah. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had many descendants.

18 The oldest son of Izhar was Shelomith.

Izhar's son was Shelomith the leader.

19 Hebron had four sons. Jeriah was his oldest son, and his [younger] brothers were Amariah, Jahaziel, and Jekameam.

Hebron's descendants were Jeriah, the oldest, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.

20 Uzziel had two sons. Micah was the oldest son, and his [younger] brother was Isshiah.

Uzziel's sons were Micah the oldest, and Ishijah the second.

21 Merari had two sons: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish.

Merari's sons were Mahli and Mushi. Mahli's sons were Eleazar and Kish.

22 Eleazar had no sons; he had only daughters. Their cousins, the sons of Kish, married them.

Eleazar died without having any sons. He had only daughters. The sons of Kish married them.

23 The three sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.

Mushi's three sons were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.

24 Those were the descendants of Levi, whose names were listed according to their families/clans. They were chosen for special jobs by (casting lots/throwing small marked stones). Each person who was at least 20 years old was listed. They all worked in the temple of Yahweh.

These were Levi's descendants corresponding to their clans. They were the leaders, counted and listed by name, of the clans that did the work in the service of Yahweh's house, from twenty years old and upward.

25 David had said previously, “Yahweh, the God to whom we Israeli people belong, has enabled us to have peace, and he [has come to] live in Jerusalem forever.

For David said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people. He makes his home in Jerusalem forever.

26 Therefore, the descendants of Levi no longer need to carry the Sacred Tent and the items used in the work there.”

The Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all the equipment used in its service.”

27 Obeying the final instructions of David [before he died, instructions for doing this work at the temple], they counted only the descendants of Levi who were at least 20 years old.

For by David's last words the Levites were counted, from twenty years old and upward.

28 The work of those descendants of Levi was to assist the descendants of Aaron in their work in the temple of Yahweh: To be in charge of the temple courtyards and the side rooms, the ceremonies for purifying all the sacred things, and to do other work at the temple.

Their duty was to assist Aaron's descendants in the service of Yahweh's house. They were to care for the courtyards, the rooms, the ceremonial purification of all the things that belong to Yahweh, and other work in the service of God's house.

29 They were also in charge of the sacred loaves of bread that were placed [each week] on the table [in the temple], the flour for the grain offerings, the wafers that were made without yeast, and the measuring the ingredients and mixing them and baking that bread and those wafers.

They also took care of the bread of the presence, the fine flour for grain offerings, the unleavened wafers, the baked offerings, the offerings mixed with oil, and all the measuring of the amounts and sizes of things.

30 They were also told to stand every morning [at the temple] and thank Yahweh and praise him. They were also required to do the same thing every evening.

They also stood every morning to thank and praise Yahweh. They also did this in the evening

31 And they were to do the same thing whenever offerings that were to be completely burned [on the altar] were presented/offered to Yahweh on Sabbath days and during the new moon celebrations and other religious festivals. They were told how many of them should be there and what they should do each time.

and whenever burnt offerings were offered to Yahweh, on the Sabbath and at the new moon festivals and feast days. A fixed number, assigned by decree, always had to be present before Yahweh.

32 So the descendants of Levi did the work that was assigned to them by their fellow Israelis who were descendants of Aaron. They did that work in the area surrounding the Sacred Tent, and in the Sacred Tent, and [later] at the temple.

They were in charge of the tent of meeting, the holy place, and helped their fellow descendants of Aaron in the service of Yahweh's house.