Chapter 23
1Now David was old and full of days; and he made Solomon his son
king over Israel.
2He gathered together all the princes of Israel, with
the priests and the Levites.
3The Levites were numbered from thirty years
old and upward: and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty-eight
thousand.
4Of these, twenty-four thousand were to oversee the work of the
house of Yahweh; and six thousand were officers and judges;
5and four
thousand were doorkeepers; and four thousand praised Yahweh with the
instruments which I made, said David, for giving praise.
6David
divided them into divisions according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath,
and Merari.
7Of the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei.
8The sons of
Ladan: Jehiel the chief, and Zetham, and Joel, three.
9The sons of
Shimei: Shelomoth, and Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the
fathers’ houses of Ladan.
10The sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, and
Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei.
11Jahath was the
chief, and Zizah the second: but Jeush and Beriah didn’t have many sons;
therefore they became a fathers’ house in one reckoning.
12The sons of
Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four.
13The sons of Amram:
Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most
holy things, he and his sons, forever, to burn incense before Yahweh, to
minister to him, and to bless in his name, forever.
14But as for Moses
the man of God, his sons were named among the tribe of Levi.
15The sons
of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer.
16The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the chief.
17The sons of Eliezer were: Rehabiah the chief; and Eliezer had no other
sons; but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.
18The sons of Izhar:
Shelomith the chief.
19The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the
second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.
20The sons of
Uzziel: Micah the chief, and Isshiah the second.
21The sons of Merari:
Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish.
22Eleazar died, and
had no sons, but daughters only: and their brothers the sons of Kish took
them to wife.
23The sons of Mushi: Mahli, and Eder, and Jeremoth,
three.
24These were the sons of Levi after their fathers’ houses, even
the heads of the fathers’ houses of those of those who were counted,
in the number of names by their polls, who did the work for the service of
the house of Yahweh, from twenty years old and upward.
25For David said,
Yahweh, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people; and he dwells in
Jerusalem forever:
26and also the Levites shall no more have need to
carry the tent and all the vessels of it for the service of it.
27For by
the last words of David the sons of Levi were numbered, from twenty years old
and upward.
28For their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the
service of the house of Yahweh, in the courts, and in the chambers, and in
the purifying of all holy things, even the work of the service of the house
of God;
29for the show bread also, and for the fine flour for a
meal offering, whether of unleavened wafers, or of that which is baked in the
pan, or of that which is soaked, and for all manner of measure and size;
30and to stand every morning to thank and praise Yahweh, and likewise in
the evening;
31and to offer all burnt offerings to Yahweh, on the
Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, in number according to the
ordinance concerning them, continually before Yahweh;
32and that they
should keep the charge of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the holy
place, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brothers, for the service of
the house of Yahweh.
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