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1When David was old and approaching the end of his life, he made his son Solomon king over Israel.[#tn Heb “and full of years.”]
2David assembled all the leaders of Israel, along with the priests and the Levites.[#tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.]
3The Levites who were thirty years old and up were counted; there were 38,000 men.[#tn Heb “and their number by their heads, by men, was 38,000.”]
4David said, “Of these, 24,000 are to direct the work of the Lord ’s temple; 6,000 are to be officials and judges;[#tn The words “David said” are supplied here in the translation for clarification. The appearance of the first person verb “I supplied” in v. 5 indicates that David is speaking here.]
54,000 are to be gatekeepers; and 4,000 are to praise the Lord with the instruments I supplied for worship.”[#tn Heb “made to [or “for”] praise.”]
6David divided them into groups corresponding to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
7The Gershonites included Ladan and Shimei.
8The sons of Ladan:
Jehiel the oldest, Zetham, and Joel – three in all.
9The sons of Shimei:
Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran – three in all.
These were the leaders of the family of Ladan.
10The sons of Shimei:
Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These were Shimei’s sons – four in all.
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.
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.
14The descendants of Moses the man of God were considered Levites.[#tn Heb “and Moses the man of God, his sons were called to the tribe of Levi.”]
15The sons of Moses:
Gershom and Eliezer.
16The son of Gershom:[#tn The Hebrew text has the plural “sons,” but only one name appears after this. The attached phrase “the oldest” might indicate that Shebuel was not Gershom’s only son, but note v. 17.]
Shebuel the oldest.
17The son of Eliezer was Rehabiah, the oldest. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had many descendants.[#tn The Hebrew text has “the sons of Eliezer were,” but only one name appears after this in the verse, and we are specifically told that Eliezer had no other sons.]
18The son of Izhar:[#tn The Hebrew text has the plural “sons,” but only one name appears after this. The attached phrase “the oldest” might indicate that Shelomith was not Izhar’s only son, but note v. 17.]
Shelomith the oldest.
19The sons of Hebron:
Jeriah the oldest, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.
20The sons of Uzziel:
Micah the oldest, and Isshiah the second.
21The sons of Merari:
Mahli and Mushi.
The sons of Mahli:
Eleazar and Kish.
22Eleazar died without having sons; he had only daughters. The sons of Kish, their cousins, married them.[#tn Heb “the sons of Kish, their brothers [i.e., relatives/cousins] lifted them up.” For other uses of נָאָשׂ (na’as, “lift up”) in the sense of “marry,” see BDB 671 s.v. Qal.3.d.]
23The sons of Mushi:
Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth – three in all.
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.[#tn Heb “these were the sons of Levi according to the house of their fathers, heads of the fathers, according to their numberings, by number of names, according to their heads, doer[s] of the work for the service of the house of the Lord, from a son of twenty years and upwards.”]
25For David said, “The Lord God of Israel has given his people rest and has permanently settled in Jerusalem.[#map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.]
26So the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the items used in its service.”
27According to David’s final instructions, the Levites twenty years old and up were counted.[#tn Heb “for by the final words of David, they were the number of the sons of Levi, from a son of twenty years and upward.”]
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.[#tn Heb “For their assignment was at the hand of the sons of Aaron for the work of the house of the Lord concerning the courtyards and concerning the rooms and concerning the purification of all holiness and the work of the service of the house of God.”]
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.[#tn Heb “with respect to.”; #tn The Hebrew terms מְשׂוּרָה (mÿsurah) and מִדָּה (middah) refer to different types of measurements.]
30They also stood in a designated place every morning and offered thanks and praise to the Lord . They also did this in the evening[#tn Heb “and to stand.”]
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.[#tn Heb “by number according to the manner upon them, regularly before 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.[#tn Heb “and they kept 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 the Lord.”]