Chronicles I 23

1 And David was old and full of days; and he made Solomon his son king over Israel in his stead.

David was a very old man [DOU] when he appointed his son Solomon to be the next king.

2 And he assembled all the chief men of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites.

David gathered the leaders of Israel and the priests and other descendants of Levi.

3 And the Levites numbered [themselves] from thirty years old and upward; and their number by their polls amounted to thirty and eight 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 the overseers over the works of the house of the Lord [there were] twenty-four thousand, and [there were] six thousand scribes and judges;

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 four thousand doorkeepers, and four thousand to praise 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 And David divided them [into] daily courses, for the sons of Levi, for Gedson, Caath, 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 And for [the family of] Gedson, Edan, and Semei.

From the descendants of Gershon there were Ladan and Shimei.

8 The sons of Edan [were] Jeiel, the chief, and Zethan, and Joel, three.

There were three sons of Ladan: Jehiel was the oldest, and his [younger] brothers Zetham and Joel.

9 The sons of Semei; Salomith, Jeiel, and Dan, three: these [were] the chiefs of the families of Edan.

There were three of the sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran. They were all leaders of the clans of Ladan.

10 And to the sons of Semei, Jeth, and Ziza, and Joas, and Beria: these [were] the four sons of Semei.

There were four men who were other sons of Shimei:

11 And Jeth was the chief, and Ziza the second: and Joas and Beria did not multiply sons, and they became [only] one reckoning according to the house of their father.

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 sons of Caath; Ambram, Isaar, Chebron, Oziel, four.

Kohath had four sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

13 The sons of Ambram; Aaron and Moses: and Aaron was appointed for the consecration of the most holy things, he and his sons for ever, to burn incense before the Lord, to minister and bless in his name for ever.

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 And [as for] Moses the man of God, his sons were reckoned to the tribe of Levi.

The sons of Moses, the man who served God [well], were counted as part of the tribe of Levi.

15 The sons of Moses; Gersam, and Eliezer.

The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer.

16 The sons of Gersam; Subael the chief.

The oldest son of Gershom was Shubael.

17 And the sons of Eliezer were, Rabia the chief: and Eliezer had no other sons; but the sons of Rabia were very greatly multiplied.

Rehabiah was the oldest son of Eliezer. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had many sons.

18 The sons of Isaar; Salomoth the chief.

The oldest son of Izhar was Shelomith.

19 The sons of Chebron; Jeria the chief, Amaria the second, Jeziel the third, Jekemias the fourth.

Hebron had four sons. Jeriah was his oldest son, and his [younger] brothers were Amariah, Jahaziel, and Jekameam.

20 The sons of Oziel; Micha the chief, and Isia the second.

Uzziel had two sons. Micah was the oldest son, and his [younger] brother was Isshiah.

21 The sons of Merari; Mooli, and Musi: the sons of Mooli; Eleazar, and Kis.

Merari had two sons: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish.

22 And Eleazar died, and he had no sons, but daughters: and the sons of Kis, their brethren, took them.

Eleazar had no sons; he had only daughters. Their cousins, the sons of Kish, married them.

23 The sons of Musi; Mooli, and Eder, and Jarimoth, three.

The three sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.

24 These [are] the sons of Levi according to the houses of their fathers; chiefs of their families according to their numbering, according to the number of their names, according to their polls, doing the works of service of the house of the Lord, from twenty years old and upward.

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 David said, The Lord God of Israel has given rest to his people, and has taken up his abode in Jerusalem for ever.

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 the Levites bore not the tabernacle, and all the vessels of it for its service.

Therefore, the descendants of Levi no longer need to carry the Sacred Tent and the items used in the work there.”

27 For by the last words of David was the number of the Levites [taken] from twenty years old and upward.

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 For he appointed them to wait on Aaron, to minister in the house of the Lord, over the courts, and over the chambers, and over the purification of all the holy things, and over the works of the service 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 and for the show-bread, and for the fine flour of the meat-offering, and for the unleavened cakes, and for the fried cake, and for the dough, and for every measure;

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 to stand in the morning to praise and give thanks to the Lord, and so in the evening;

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 be] over all the whole burnt offerings that were offered up to the Lord on the sabbaths, and at the new moons, and at the feasts, by number, according to the order [given] to them, 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 they are to keep the charge of the tabernacle of witness, and the charge of the holy place, and the charges of the sons of Aaron their brethren, to minister in the 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.