| New King James Version | NET Bible |
| 1So when David was old and full of days, he made his son Solomon king over Israel. | 1When David was old and approaching the end of his life, he made his son Solomon king over Israel. |
| 2And he gathered together all the leaders of Israel, with the priests and the Levites. | 2David assembled all the leaders of Israel, along with the priests and the Levites. |
| 3Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and above; and the number of individual males was thirty-eight thousand. | 3The Levites who were thirty years old and up were counted; there were 38,000 men. |
| 4Of these, twenty-four thousand were to look after the work of the house of the LORD, six thousand were officers and judges, | 4David said, "Of these, 24,000 are to direct the work of the LORD's temple; 6,000 are to be officials and judges; |
| 5four thousand were gatekeepers, and four thousand praised the LORD with musical instruments, “which I made,” said David, “for giving praise.” | 54,000 are to be gatekeepers; and 4,000 are to praise the LORD with the instruments I supplied for worship." |
| 6Also David separated them into divisions among the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. | 6David divided them into groups corresponding to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. |
| 7Of the Gershonites: Laadan and Shimei. | 7The Gershonites included Ladan and Shimei. |
| 8The sons of Laadan: the first Jehiel, then Zetham and Joel—three in all. | 8The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the oldest, Zetham, and Joel--three in all. |
| 9The sons of Shimei: Shelomith, Haziel, and Haran—three in all. These were the heads of the fathers’ houses of Laadan. | 9The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran--three in all. These were the leaders of the family of Ladan. |
| 10And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These were the four sons of Shimei. | 10The sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These were Shimei's sons--four in all. |
| 11Jahath 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. | 11Jahath was the oldest and Zizah the second oldest. Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they were considered one family with one responsibility. |
| 12The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel—four in all. | 12The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel--four in all. |
| 13The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was set apart, he and his sons forever, that he should sanctify the most holy things, to burn incense before the LORD, to minister to Him, and to give the blessing in His name forever. | 13The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his descendants were chosen on a permanent basis to consecrate the most holy items, to offer sacrifices before the LORD, to serve him, and to praise his name. |
| 14Now the sons of Moses the man of God were reckoned to the tribe of Levi. | 14The descendants of Moses the man of God were considered Levites. |
| 15The sons of Moses were Gershon and Eliezer. | 15The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. |
| 16Of the sons of Gershon, Shebuel was the first. | 16The son of Gershom: Shebuel the oldest. |
| 17Of the descendants of Eliezer, Rehabiah was the first. And Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. | 17The son of Eliezer was Rehabiah, the oldest. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had many descendants. |
| 18Of the sons of Izhar, Shelomith was the first. | 18The son of Izhar: Shelomith the oldest. |
| 19Of the sons of Hebron, Jeriah was the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. | 19The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the oldest, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. |
| 20Of the sons of Uzziel, Michah was the first and Jesshiah the second. | 20The sons of Uzziel: Micah the oldest, and Isshiah the second. |
| 21The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish. | 21The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish. |
| 22And Eleazar died, and had no sons, but only daughters; and their brethren, the sons of Kish, took them as wives. | 22Eleazar died without having sons; he had only daughters. The sons of Kish, their cousins, married them. |
| 23The sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth—three in all. | 23The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth--three in all. |
| 24These were the sons of Levi by their fathers’ houses—the heads of the fathers’ houses as they were counted individually by the number of their names, who did the work for the service of the house of the LORD, from the age of twenty years and above. | 24These were the descendants of Levi according to their families, that is, the leaders of families as counted and individually listed who carried out assigned tasks in the LORD's temple and were twenty years old and up. |
| 25For David said, “The LORD God of Israel has given rest to His people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem forever”; | 25For David said, "The LORD God of Israel has given his people rest and has permanently settled in Jerusalem. |
| 26and also to the Levites, “They shall no longer carry the tabernacle, or any of the articles for its service.” | 26So the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the items used in its service." |
| 27For by the last words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above; | 27According to David's final instructions, the Levites twenty years old and up were counted. |
| 28because their duty was to help the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of the LORD, 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, | 28Their job was to help Aaron's descendants in the service of the LORD's temple. They were to take care of the courtyards, the rooms, ceremonial purification of all holy items, and other jobs related to the service of God's temple. |
| 29both with the showbread and the fine flour for the grain offering, with the unleavened cakes and what is baked in the pan, with what is mixed and with all kinds of measures and sizes; | 29They also took care of the bread that is displayed, the flour for offerings, the unleavened wafers, the round cakes, the mixing, and all the measuring. |
| 30to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD, and likewise at evening; | 30They also stood in a designated place every morning and offered thanks and praise to the LORD. They also did this in the evening |
| 31and at every presentation of a burnt offering to the LORD on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the set feasts, by number according to the ordinance governing them, regularly before the LORD; | 31and whenever burnt sacrifices were offered to the LORD on the Sabbath and at new moon festivals and assemblies. A designated number were to serve before the LORD regularly in accordance with regulations. |
| 32and that they should attend to the needs of the tabernacle of meeting, the needs of the holy place, and the needs of the sons of Aaron their brethren in the work of the house of the LORD. | 32They were in charge of the meeting tent and the holy place, and helped their relatives, the descendants of Aaron, in the service of the LORD's temple. |
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