1 Chronicles 23:1-32 - David Organizes The Levites

¹ So when David was old and full of days, he made Solomon, his son, king over Israel. ² And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, ³ were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward; and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand. ⁴ Of which, twenty-four thousand were to set forward the work of the house of the LORD, and six thousand were officers and judges; ⁵ moreover, four thousand were porters, and four thousand praised the LORD with the instruments which David had made to praise therewith.

⁶ And David divided them into courses according to the sons of Levi, namely, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ⁷ The sons of Gershon: Laadan and Shimei. ⁸ The sons of Laadan: Jehiel, the first, Zetham and Joel, three. ⁹ The sons of Shimei: Shelomith, Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the chief of the fathers of Laadan. ¹⁰ And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei. ¹¹ And Jahath was the first, and Zizah the second, but Jeush and Beriah did not multiply in many sons; therefore, they were in one reckoning, according to their father's house. ¹² The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four. ¹³ The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. And Aaron was separated, that he should be dedicated to the most holy things, he and his sons for ever, to burn incense before the LORD, to minister unto him and to bless in his name for ever. ¹⁴ And the sons of Moses, the man of God, were counted in the tribe of Levi. ¹⁵ The sons of Moses were Gershon and Eliezer. ¹⁶ Of the sons of Gershon, Shebuel was the chief. ¹⁷ And the son of Eliezer was Rehabiah, the chief. And Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. ¹⁸ The sons of Izhar: Shelomith, the chief. ¹⁹ The sons of Hebron: Jeriah, the first, Amariah, the second, Jahaziel, the third, and Jekameam, the fourth. ²⁰ The sons of Uzziel: Michah, the first, and Jesiah, the second. ²¹ The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish. ²² And Eleazar died and had no sons, but daughters and their brethren, the sons of Kish, took them as wives. ²³ The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth, three.

²⁴ These are the sons of Levi after the houses of their fathers, even the chief of the fathers, as they were counted by number of names by their polls, that did work in the ministry of the house of the LORD, from the age of twenty years and upward. ²⁵ For David said, The LORD God of Israel has given rest unto his people, and he shall dwell in Jerusalem for ever. ²⁶ And also unto the Levites, they shall no longer carry the tabernacle, nor any vessels of it for its ministry. ²⁷ For by the last words of David, the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above. ²⁸ And their station was at the hand of the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the LORD, in the courts, and in the chambers, and in the purifying of all holy things, and in the work of the ministry of the house of God, ²⁹ both for the showbread and for the fine flour for the sacrifice and for the unleavened cakes and for that which is baked in the pan and for that which is fried and for all manner of measure and size, ³⁰ and to stand every morning to thank and praise the LORD, and likewise in the evening; ³¹ and to offer all burnt sacrifices unto the LORD in the sabbaths, in the new moons and solemnities, by number, according to the order commanded unto them, continually before the LORD. ³² And that they should keep the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony and the charge of the holy place and the charge of the sons of Aaron, their brethren, in the ministry of the house of the LORD.