Solomon Reigns
1Now when David reached old age, he made his son Solomon king over Israel.
2And he gathered together all the leaders of Israel with the priests and the Levites.
Offices of the Levites
3The Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward, and their number by census of men was 38,000.
4Of these, 24,000 were to oversee the work of the house of the L
ORD; and 6,000
were officers and judges,
5and 4,000
were gatekeepers, and 4,000
were praising the L
ORD with the instruments which David made for giving praise.
6David divided them into divisions according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
Gershonites
7Of the Gershonites
were Ladan and Shimei.
8The sons of Ladan
were Jehiel the first and Zetham and Joel, three.
9The sons of Shimei
were Shelomoth and Haziel and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers
households of Ladan.
10The sons of Shimei
were Jahath, Zina, Jeush and Beriah. These four
were the sons of Shimei.
11Jahath was the first and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they became a fathers household, one class.
Kohathites
12The sons of Kohath were four: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.
13The sons of Amram were Aaron and Moses. And Aaron was set apart to sanctify him as most holy, he and his sons forever, to burn incense before the L
ORD, 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
were Gershom and Eliezer.
16The son of Gershom
was Shebuel the chief.
17The son of Eliezer was Rehabiah the chief; and Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.
18The son of Izhar was Shelomith the chief.
19The sons of Hebron
were Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third and Jekameam the fourth.
20The sons of Uzziel
were Micah the first and Isshiah the second.
Merarites
21The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli
were Eleazar and Kish.
22Eleazar died and had no sons, but daughters only, so their brothers, the sons of Kish, took them
as wives.
23The sons of Mushi
were three: Mahli, Eder and Jeremoth.
Duties Revised
24These were the sons of Levi according to their fathers households,
even the heads of the fathers
households of those of them who were counted, in the number of names by their census, doing the work for the service of the house of the L
ORD, from twenty years old and upward.
25For David said, The L
ORD God of Israel has given rest to His people, and He dwells in Jerusalem forever.
26Also, the Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all its utensils for its service.
27For by the last words of David the sons of Levi
were numbered from twenty years old and upward.
28For their office is to assist the sons of Aaron with the service of the house of the L
ORD, 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,
29and with the showbread, and the fine flour for a grain offering, and unleavened wafers, or
what is baked in the pan or what is well-mixed, and all measures of volume and size.
30They are to stand every morning to thank and to praise the L
ORD, and likewise at evening,
31and to offer all burnt offerings to the L
ORD, on the sabbaths, the new moons and the fixed festivals in the number
set by the ordinance concerning them, continually before the L
ORD.
32Thus they are to keep charge of the tent of meeting, and charge of the holy place, and charge of the sons of Aaron their relatives, for the service of the house of the L
ORD.