1 ARST David was a very old man when he appointed his son Solomon to be the next king over Israel. BSB BSB: When David was old and full of years, he installed his son Solomon as king over Israel.
2 ARST David gathered the leaders of Israel and the priests and other descendants of Levi. BSB BSB: Then he gathered all the leaders of Israel, as well as the priests and Levites.
3 ARST He commanded some of his officials to count the descendants of Levi who were at least 30 years old, and they found out that there were 38, 000 men. BSB BSB: The Levites thirty years of age or older were counted, and the total number of men was 38,000.
4 ARST Then David said,“From those descendants of Levi, I want 24, 000 of them to supervise the work at the temple of Yahweh, 6, 000 to be officials and judges, BSB BSB: “Of these,” said David, “24,000 are to oversee the work of the house of the LORD, 6,000 are to be officers and judges,
5 ARST 4, 000 to be guards at the gates, and 4, 000 to praise Yahweh, using the musical instruments that I have provided for them.” BSB BSB: 4,000 are to be gatekeepers, and 4,000 are to praise the LORD with the instruments I have made for giving praise.”
6 ARST David divided the descendants of Levi into three groups; each group consisted of men who were descendants of one of the three sons of Levi— Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. BSB BSB: Then David divided the Levites into divisions according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
7 ARST The descendants of Gershon were Ladan and Shimei. BSB BSB: The Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei.
8 ARST Ladan had three sons: the oldest Jehiel, then Zetham and Joel. BSB BSB: The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the first, Zetham, and Joel—three in all.
9 ARST Shimei had three sons: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran. They were leaders of the clans of Ladan. BSB BSB: The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran—three in all. These were the heads of the families of Ladan.
10 ARST Shimei’ s sons were Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah; four in total. BSB BSB: And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These were the sons of Shimei—four in all.
11 ARST Jahath was the oldest son. Ziza was the second. Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so the officials counting the descendants of Levi counted the families of Jeush and Beriah as though they were one family. BSB BSB: Jahath was the first and Zizah was the second; but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they were counted as one family and received a single assignment.
12 ARST Kohath had four sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. BSB BSB: The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel—four in all.
13 ARST Amram’ s sons were Aaron and Moses. Yahweh chose Aaron, that is, Aaron and his descendants perpetually, to dedicate to Yahweh the very holy things, to offer sacrifices to Yahweh, to serve in his presence, and to declare to the people what Yahweh would do to bless them. They were to do those things forever. BSB BSB: The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his descendants were set apart forever to consecrate the most holy things, to burn incense before the LORD, to minister before Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name forever.
14 ARST The officials counting the descendants of Levi counted the descendants of Moses, the man who served God well, as part of the tribe of Levi. BSB BSB: As for Moses the man of God, his sons were named among the tribe of Levi.
15 ARST Moses’ sons were Gershom and Eliezer. BSB BSB: The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer.
16 ARST The oldest son of Gershom was Shubael. BSB BSB: The descendants of Gershom: Shebuel was the first.
17 ARST Eliezer’ s oldest child was Rehabiah. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had many sons. BSB BSB: The descendants of Eliezer: Rehabiah was the first. Eliezer did not have any other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very numerous.
18 ARST Izhar’ s oldest son was Shelomith. BSB BSB: The sons of Izhar: Shelomith was the first.
19 ARST Hebron had four sons. Jeriah was his oldest son; Amariah was the second; Jahaziel was the third; and Jekameam was the fourth. BSB BSB: The sons of Hebron: Jeriah was the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.
20 ARST Uzziel had two sons. Micah was the older son, and Isshiah was the younger. BSB BSB: The sons of Uzziel: Micah was the first and Isshiah the second.
21 ARST Merari had two sons: Mahli and Mushi. Mahli’ s sons were Eleazar and Kish. BSB BSB: The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish.
22 ARST Eleazar died without having sons; he only had daughters. Their cousins, Kish’ s sons, married them. BSB BSB: Eleazar died without having any sons; he had only daughters. Their cousins, the sons of Kish, married them.
23 ARST Mushi had three sons: Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. BSB BSB: The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth—three in all.
24 ARST Those were the descendants of Levi that the officials counted according to the descendants’ families and the leaders of those families, as well as according to the descendants’ special jobs and the leaders of those jobs. They all worked in the temple of Yahweh. The officials counted each person who was at least 20 years old. BSB BSB: These were the descendants of Levi by their families—the heads of families, registered individually by name—those twenty years of age or older who worked in the service of the house of the LORD.
25 ARST David had said previously,“Yahweh, the God to whom we Israelite people belong, has enabled us to have peace, and he has come to live in Jerusalem forever. BSB BSB: For David had said, “The LORD, the God of Israel, has given rest to His people and has come to dwell in Jerusalem forever.
26 ARST Therefore, the descendants of Levi no longer need to carry the sacred tent and all the items used in the work there.” BSB BSB: So now the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the articles for its service.”
27 ARST Obeying David’ s final instructions before he died, instructions for doing the work at the temple, the officials counted the descendants of Levi who were at least twenty years old. BSB BSB: For according to the final instructions of David, the Levites twenty years of age or older were counted,
28 ARST The work of those descendants of Levi was to assist the descendants of Aaron in their work in Yahweh’ s temple. They were in charge of the temple courtyards and the side rooms, the ceremonies for purifying all the sacred things, and to do other work at the temple. BSB BSB: but their duty was to assist the descendants of Aaron with the service of the house of the LORD, being responsible for the courts and chambers, the purification of all the holy things, and the work of the service of the house of God,
29 ARST They were also in charge of the loaves of bread the priests placed each week on the table in the temple, the flour for the flour offerings, the wafers that were made without yeast, and the baking pans. The descendants of Levi also had to measure the ingredients, mix them, and bake the bread and wafers. BSB BSB: as well as for the rows of the showbread, the fine flour for the grain offering, the wafers of unleavened bread, the baking, the mixing, and all measurements of quantity and size.
30 ARST Another responsibility for the Levites was to stand every morning at the temple and thank Yahweh and praise him. They needed to do the same thing every evening as well. BSB BSB: They were also to stand every morning to give thanks and praise to the LORD, and likewise in the evening.
31 ARST And they needed to do the same thing at the presentation of fully burnt offerings to Yahweh on Sabbath days and during the new moon celebrations and other religious festivals. There were specific regulations about how many of them should be there and what they should do each time they served at Yahweh’ s temple. BSB BSB: Whenever burnt offerings were presented to the LORD on the Sabbaths, New Moons, and appointed feasts, they were to serve regularly before the LORD in the numbers prescribed for them.
32 ARST So the descendants of Aaron, their fellow Israelites, assigned the descendants of Levi certain responsibilities at the place where the Israelite people worshiped Yahweh. The descendants of Levi did that work at the sacred tent and in the holy place inside the tent. BSB BSB: So the Levites were to carry out the responsibilities for the Tent of Meeting and the Holy Place, and, under their brothers the descendants of Aaron, the service of the house of the LORD.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.