1 Chronicles 23

1 And David was old and full of days, and he made Solomon his son king over Israel in his place. 2 And he gathered together all the leaders of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites. 3 And the Levites were counted, from thirty years old and upward, and their number, head by head, came to thirty-eight thousand men.

4 Of these, twenty-four thousand were work-drivers over the works of the house of the Lord, and six thousand were scribes and judges, [a] 5 and four thousand were gatekeepers, and four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments that he made for praising the Lord.

6 And David divided them into daily divisions for the sons of Levi — for Gershon, Kohath and Merari. 7 And to Parosom: Edan and Shimei. [b] 8 The sons of Edan: Jeiel the leader, and Zetham and Joel — three. 9 The sons of Shimei: Shelomith and Jeiel and Aidan — three. These were the leaders of the families of Edan. 10 And to the sons of Shimei: Jeth and Ziza and Joash and Beriah. These were the sons of Shimei — four. [c] 11 And Jeth was the leader and Ziza the second; and Joash and Beriah did not have many sons, and they became one father’s house, counted as one.

12 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, Uzziel — four. 13 The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. And Aaron was set apart to be made holy as most holy, he and his sons forever, to burn incense before the Lord, to do the work of the service and to pray in his name forever. [d] 14 And Moses was the man of God; his sons were counted with the tribe of Levi. 15 The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. 16 The sons of Gershom: Shubael the leader. 17 And the sons of Eliezer: Rehabiah the leader. And Eliezer had no other sons; but the sons of Rehabiah increased greatly.

18 The sons of Izhar: Shelomoth the leader. 19 The sons of Hebron: Idoud the leader, Amadiah the second, Uzziel the third, Jekemiah the fourth. [e] 20 The sons of Uzziel: Micah the leader, and Isshiah the second.

21 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish. 22 And Eleazar died, and he had no sons, only daughters; and the sons of Kish, their brothers, took them. 23 The sons of Mushi: Mahli and Eder and Jerimoth — three.

24 These are the sons of Levi by the houses of their fathers, leaders of their fathers’ houses according to their counting, by the number of their names, head by head, doing the works of the service of the house of the Lord, from twenty years old and upward. 25 For David said, “The Lord, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people, and he has come to dwell in Jerusalem forever.” 26 And the Levites were no longer carrying the tent and all its vessels for its service; 27 for by the last words of David the number of the sons of Levi is taken from twenty years old and upward. [f]

28 For he set them under the hand of Aaron, to serve in the house of the Lord: over the courts, and over the chambers, and over the cleansing of all the holy things, and over the works of the service of the house of God; 29 for the loaves of the setting-out, and for the fine flour of the sacrifice, and for the wafers without yeast, and for the griddle, and for the kneaded dough, and for every measure; [g] 30 and to stand in the morning to praise and give thanks to the Lord, and so again in the evening; 31 and to be over all the whole burnt offerings brought up to the Lord on the sabbaths and at the new moons and at the feasts, by number, according to the judgment laid down for them, continually before the Lord. 32 And they are to keep the charges of the tent of witness, and the charges of the sons of Aaron their brothers, to serve in the house of the Lord. [h]