1 Chronicles 23

New King James Version

The Divisions of the Levites

23 So when David was old and full of days, he made his son^(A)Solomon 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 of^(B)thirty years and above; and the number of individual males was thirty-eight thousand.⁴ Of these, twenty-four thousandwereto^(C)look after the work of the house of theLord, six thousandwere^(D)officers and judges,⁵ four thousandweregatekeepers, and four thousand^(E)praised theLordwithmusicalinstruments,^(F)“which I made,”said David,“for giving praise.”

⁶ Also^(G)David separated them into^[a]divisions among the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷ Of the^(H)Gershonites:^[b]Laadan and Shimei.⁸ The sons of Laadan: the first Jehiel, then Zetham and Joel—threein all.⁹ The sons of Shimei: Shelomith, Haziel, and Haran—threein all.These were the heads of the fathers’housesof Laadan.¹⁰ And the sons of Shimei: Jahath,^[c]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 (I)The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel—fourin all.¹³ The sons of^(J)Amram: Aaron and Moses; and^(K)Aaron was set apart, he and his sons forever, that he should^[d]sanctify the most holy things,^(L)to burn incense before theLord,^(M)to minister to Him, and^(N)to give the blessing in His name forever.¹⁴ Now^(O)the sons of Moses the man of God were reckoned to the tribe of Levi.^15 (P)The sons of Moseswere^[e]Gershon and Eliezer.¹⁶ Of the sons of Gershon,^(Q)Shebuel^[f]wasthe first.¹⁷ Of the descendants of Eliezer,^(R)Rehabiah was the first. And Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.¹⁸ Of the sons of Izhar,^(S)Shelomithwasthe first.^19 (T)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 (U)The sons of MerariwereMahli and Mushi. The sons of MahliwereEleazar and^(V)Kish.²² And Eleazar died, and^(W)had no sons, but only daughters; and their^[g]brethren, the sons of Kish,^(X)took themas wives.^23 (Y)The sons of MushiwereMahli, Eder, and Jeremoth—threein all.

²⁴ Thesewerethe sons of^(Z)Levi 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 of^(AA)twenty years and above.

²⁵ For David said, “TheLordGod of Israel^(AB)has given rest to His people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem forever”;²⁶ and also to the Levites, “They shall no longer^(AC)carry the tabernacle, or any of the articles for its service.”²⁷ For by the^(AD)last 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 with^(AE)the showbread and^(AF)the fine flour for the grain offering, with^(AG)the unleavened cakes and^(AH)what is baked inthe pan, with what is mixed and with all kinds of^(AI)measures 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 theLord^(AJ)on the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the^(AK)set^[h]feasts, by number according to the ordinance governing them, regularly before theLord;³² and that they should^(AL)attend to the^(AM)needs of the tabernacle of meeting, the needs of the holyplace,and the^(AN)needs of the sons of Aaron their brethren in the work of the house of theLord.