1 Chronicles 23
1 So when Dauid was olde and full of dayes, he made Salomon his sonne King ouer Israel.
David was a very old man [DOU] when he appointed his son Solomon to be the next king.
2 And hee gathered together all the princes of Israel with the Priestes and the Leuites.
David gathered the leaders of Israel and the priests and other descendants of Levi.
3 And the Leuites were numbred from ye age of thirtie yeere and aboue, and their nomber according to their summe was eight and thirtie thousand men.
He [commanded some of his officials to] count the descendants of Levi who were at least thirty years old, and they found out that there were 38,000 of them.
4 Of these foure and twentie thousande were set to aduance the worke of the house of the Lord, and sixe thousand were ouerseers and iudges.
Then David said, “From those 38,000 men, I want 24,000 of them to supervise the work at the temple of Yahweh, and I want 6,000 of them to be officials and judges.
5 And foure thousand were porters, and foure thousande praised the Lord with instruments which he made to praise the Lord.
I want 4,000 to be guards at the gates, and 4,000 to praise Yahweh, using the musical instruments that I have provided for them.”
6 So Dauid deuided offices vnto them, to wit, to the sonnes of Leui, to Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
David divided the descendants of Levi into three family groups; each group consisted of men who were descendants of one of the three sons of Levi—Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
7 Of the Gershonites were Laadan and Shimei.
From the descendants of Gershon there were Ladan and Shimei.
8 The sonnes of Laadan, the chiefe was Iehiel, and Zetham and Ioel, three.
There were three sons of Ladan: Jehiel was the oldest, and his [younger] brothers Zetham and Joel.
9 The Sonnes of Shimei, Shelomith, and Haziel, and Haram, three: these were the chiefe fathers of Laadan.
There were three of the sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran. They were all leaders of the clans of Ladan.
10 Also the sonnes of Shimei were Iahath, Zina, Ieush, and Beriah: these foure were ye sonnes of Shimei.
There were four men who were other sons of Shimei:
11 And Iahath was the chiefe, and Zizah the seconde, but Ieush and Beriah had not many sonnes: therfore they were in the families of their father, counted but as one.
Jahath, who was his oldest son, and his [younger] brothers Ziza, Jeush, and Beriah. Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they were counted as though they were one family.
12 The sonnes of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron aud Vzziel, foure.
Kohath had four sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
13 The sonnes of Amram, Aaron and Moses: and Aaron was separated to sanctifie the most holy place, hee and his sonnes for euer to burne incense before the Lord, to minister to him, and to blesse in his Name for euer.
There were two sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his descendants were set apart to dedicate the very holy things, to offer sacrifices to Yahweh, to serve in his presence, and to declare [to the people] what Yahweh [MTY] would do to bless them. They were to do those things forever.
14 Moses also the man of God, and his children were named with the tribe of Leui.
The sons of Moses, the man who served God [well], were counted as part of the tribe of Levi.
15 The sonnes of Moses were Gershom, and Eliezer,
The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer.
16 Of the sonnes of Gershom was Shebuel the chiefe.
The oldest son of Gershom was Shubael.
17 And the sonne of Eliezer was Rehabiah the chiefe: for Eliezer had none other sonnes: but the sonnes of Rehabiah were very many.
Rehabiah was the oldest son of Eliezer. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had many sons.
18 The sone of Izhar was Shelomith ye chiefe.
The oldest son of Izhar was Shelomith.
19 The sonnes of Hebron were Ieriah the first, Amariah the second, Iahaziel the third, and Iekamiam the fourth.
Hebron had four sons. Jeriah was his oldest son, and his [younger] brothers were Amariah, Jahaziel, and Jekameam.
20 The sones of Vzziel were Michah the first, and Isshiah the second.
Uzziel had two sons. Micah was the oldest son, and his [younger] brother was Isshiah.
21 The sonnes of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sonnes of Mahli, Eleazar and Kish.
Merari had two sons: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish.
22 And Eleazar dyed, and had no sonnes, but daughters, and their brethren the sonnes of Kish tooke them.
Eleazar had no sons; he had only daughters. Their cousins, the sons of Kish, married them.
23 The sonnes of Mushi were Mahli, and Eder, and Ierimoth, three.
The three sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.
24 These were the sonnes of Leui according to the house of their fathers, euen the chiefe fathers according to their offices, according to the nomber of names and their summe that did the worke for the seruice of the house of the Lord from the age of twentie yeeres and aboue.
Those were the descendants of Levi, whose names were listed according to their families/clans. They were chosen for special jobs by (casting lots/throwing small marked stones). Each person who was at least 20 years old was listed. They all worked in the temple of Yahweh.
25 For Dauid sayde, The Lord God of Israel hath giuen rest vnto his people, that they may dwell in Ierusalem for euer.
David had said previously, “Yahweh, the God to whom we Israeli people belong, has enabled us to have peace, and he [has come to] live in Jerusalem forever.
26 And also the Leuites shall no more beare the Tabernacle and al the vessels for the seruice thereof.
Therefore, the descendants of Levi no longer need to carry the Sacred Tent and the items used in the work there.”
27 Therefore according to the last wordes of Dauid, the Leuites were nombred from twentie yeere and aboue,
Obeying the final instructions of David [before he died, instructions for doing this work at the temple], they counted only the descendants of Levi who were at least 20 years old.
28 And their office was vnder the hand of the sonnes of Aaron, for the seruice of the house of the Lord in the courtes, and chambers, and in the purifiyng of all holy thinges, and in the worke of the seruice of the house of God,
The work of those descendants of Levi was to assist the descendants of Aaron in their work in the temple of Yahweh: To be 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.
29 Both for the shewbread, and for the fine floure, for the meate offring, and for the vnleauened cakes, and for the fryed things, and for that which was rosted, and for all measures and cise,
They were also in charge of the sacred loaves of bread that were placed [each week] on the table [in the temple], the flour for the grain offerings, the wafers that were made without yeast, and the measuring the ingredients and mixing them and baking that bread and those wafers.
30 And for to stand euery morning, to giue thanks and praise to the Lord, and likewise at euen,
They were also told to stand every morning [at the temple] and thank Yahweh and praise him. They were also required to do the same thing every evening.
31 And to offer all burnt offrings vnto the Lord, in the Sabbaths, in the moneths, and at the appointed times, according to the nomber and according to their custome continually before the Lord,
And they were to do the same thing whenever offerings that were to be completely burned [on the altar] were presented/offered to Yahweh on Sabbath days and during the new moon celebrations and other religious festivals. They were told how many of them should be there and what they should do each time.
32 And that they should keepe the charge of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, and the charge of ye holy place, and the charge of ye sonnes of Aaron their brethren in the seruice of ye house of the Lord.
So the descendants of Levi did the work that was assigned to them by their fellow Israelis who were descendants of Aaron. They did that work in the area surrounding the Sacred Tent, and in the Sacred Tent, and [later] at the temple.
