Chronological Plan

¹When David reached old age, he made his son Solomon king over Israel.

²And he assembled together all the leaders of Israel with the priests and Levites.

³The Levites thirty years old and upward were counted, and their number man by man was 38,000.

⁴Of these24,000 were to oversee and inspect the work of the house of the LORD and 6,000 were to be administrators and judges,

⁵and 4,000 were gatekeepers, and 4,000 [musicians] were to praise the LORD with the instruments which David made for giving praise.

⁶And David organized them into divisions according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷Of the Gershonites: Ladan (Libni) and Shimei.

⁸The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the first and Zetham and Joel—three in all.

⁹The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran—three in all. These were the heads of the fathers' households of Ladan.

¹⁰The sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina (Zizah), Jeush, and Beriah. These were the four sons of Shimei.

¹¹Jahath was the first and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons [not enough for a father's house or clan], so they were [counted together] as one father's household, one working group.

¹²The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel—four in all.

¹³The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart to consecrate him as most holy, he and his sons forever, to burn incense before the LORD, attend to His service, and to bless [worshipers] in His name forever.

¹⁴But as for Moses the man of God, his sons were counted among the tribe of Levi.

¹⁵The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer.

¹⁶The son of Gershom: Shebuel the chief.

¹⁷The son of Eliezer was Rehabiah the chief. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah's sons were very many [in number].

¹⁸The son of Izhar: Shelomith the chief.

¹⁹The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.

²⁰The sons of Uzziel: Micah the first 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 relatives, the sons of Kish, took them as wives.

²³The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth—three in all.

²⁴These were the Levites by their fathers' households, the heads of the fathers' households of those registered, according to the number of names of the individuals who were the servants of the house of the LORD, from twenty years old and upward.

²⁵For David said, "The LORD God of Israel, has given peace and 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 Levites from twenty years old and above were counted.

²⁸For their duty is to assist [the priests] the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of the LORD, in [caring for] the courtyards, the chambers, the purifying of all holy things, and any 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 [as the Law of Moses required].

³⁰They are to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD, and likewise at evening,

³¹and to offer all burnt sacrifices to the LORD on the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the festivals by number according to the ordinance concerning them, continually before the LORD.

³²So they shall be responsible for the Tent of Meeting, the Holy Place, and the sons of Aaron their relatives, for the service of the house of the LORD.

¹The divisions of the descendants of Aaron were these: the sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

²But Nadab and Abihu died before their father and had no sons; therefore Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.

³David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their offices for their assigned duties.

⁴Since there were more chief men found among the descendants of Eleazar than among the descendants of Ithamar [because of Eli's misfortunes, and Saul's massacre of the priests at Nob], they were divided in this way: sixteen heads of fathers' households of the descendants of Eleazar and eight of the descendants of Ithamar, corresponding to their fathers' households.

⁵So they were divided by lot, one group with the other; for they were officers of the sanctuary and officers (high priests) of God, both from the descendants of Eleazar and from the descendants of Ithamar.

⁶Shemaiah, the son of Nethanel the scribe, from the Levites, recorded them in the presence of the king, the officers, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech the son of Abiathar [the priest who escaped Saul's massacre at Nob], and the heads of the fathers' households of the priests and of the Levites; one father's household taken for Eleazar and one taken for Ithamar.

⁷The lots fell, the first one to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah,

⁸the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim,

⁹the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin,

¹⁰the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah,

¹¹the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah,

¹²the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim,

¹³the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab,

¹⁴the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer,

¹⁵the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez,

¹⁶the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezkel,

¹⁷the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul,

¹⁸the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah.

¹⁹These were their offices and positions for their service in the house of the LORD according to the ordinance given to them by their father (ancestor) Aaron, just as the LORD God of Israel had commanded him.

²⁰Now as for the rest of the sons of Levi: of the sons of Amram: Shubael; of the sons of Shubael: Jehdeiah.

²¹Of Rehabiah: of the sons of Rehabiah: Isshiah the first.

²²Of the Izharites: Shelomoth; of the sons of Shelomoth, Jahath.

²³The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth.

²⁴Of the sons of Uzziel, Micah; of the sons of Micah, Shamir.

²⁵The brother of Micah, Isshiah; of the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah.

²⁶The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi; the sons of Jaaziah, Beno.

²⁷The sons of Merari: by Jaaziah were Beno, Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri.

²⁸By Mahli: Eleazar, who had no sons.

²⁹By Kish: the sons of Kish, Jerahmeel.

³⁰The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites according to their fathers' households.

³¹These also cast lots as did their relatives the sons of Aaron in the presence of David the king, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the fathers' households of the priests and of the Levites—the head of father's households as well as those of his younger brother.

¹Moreover, David and the commanders of the army selected for the [temple] service some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, who were to prophesy with lyres, harps, and cymbals. The list of the musicians who performed their service was as follows:

²Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah; the sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the king.

³Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with the lyre in thanksgiving and praise to the LORD.

⁴Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth.

⁵All these [men] were the sons of Heman the king's seer to exalt him in accordance with the words of God; for God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.

⁶All these were under the direction of their father to sing in the house of the LORD, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order and direction of the king.

⁷So their number [who led the remainder of the 4,000], with their relatives who were trained in singing to the LORD, all who were skillful, was 288.

⁸The musicians cast lots for their duties, everyone alike, the small (younger) as well as the great (older), the teacher as well as the student.

⁹The first lot for Asaph fell to Joseph; the second to Gedaliah, to him, his relatives and his sons, twelve;

¹⁰the third to Zaccur, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

¹¹the fourth to Izri, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

¹²the fifth to Nethaniah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

¹³the sixth to Bukkiah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

¹⁴the seventh to Jesharelah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

¹⁵the eighth to Jeshaiah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

¹⁶the ninth to Mattaniah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

¹⁷the tenth to Shimei, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

¹⁸the eleventh to Azarel, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

¹⁹the twelfth to Hashabiah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

²⁰the thirteenth to Shubael, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

²¹the fourteenth to Mattithiah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

²²the fifteenth to Jeremoth, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

²³the sixteenth to Hananiah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

²⁴the seventeenth of Joshbekashah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

²⁵the eighteenth to Hanani, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

²⁶the nineteenth to Mallothi, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

²⁷the twentieth to Eliathah, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

²⁸the twenty-first to Hothir, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

²⁹the twenty-second to Giddalti, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

³⁰the twenty-third to Mahazioth, his sons and his relatives, twelve;

³¹the twenty-fourth to Romamti-ezer, his sons and his relatives, twelve.