1 Chronicles 23

1 And when David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel.

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

2 And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites.

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

3 And then were numbered the Levites from thirty years old and upward: and their number by their polls, of men, was thirty and eight thousand.

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 were twenty and four thousand to superintend the work of the house of the Lord; and six thousand were officers 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 were gatekeepers: and four thousand those who praised the Lord with the instruments which I have made, to praise therewith.

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 divisions after the sons of Levi, after Gershon, Kehath, 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 Gershunites: La'dan, and Shim'i.

From the descendants of Gershon there were Ladan and Shimei.

8 The sons of La'dan: The chief was Jechiel, and Zetham, and Joel, three.

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

9 The sons of Shim'i: Shelomith, and Chaziel, and Haran, three. These were the chiefs of the families of La'dan.

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

10 And the sons of Shim'i were, Jachath, Zina, and Je'ush, and Beri'ah. These four were the sons of Shim'i.

There were four men who were other sons of Shimei:

11 And Jachath was the chief, and Zizah the second; but Je'ush and Beri'ah had not many sons: therefore were they accounted as one family division in the numbering.

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 Kehath: 'Amram, Yizhar, Hebron, and 'Uzziel, four.

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

13 The sons of 'Amram, Aaron and Moses: and Aaron was set apart, to sanctify him as most holy, he with his sons for ever, to burn incense before the Lord, to minister unto him, and to 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 But as regardeth Moses the man of God, his sons were named after 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 were, Gershom, and Eli'ezer.

The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer.

16 Of the sons of Gershom, Shebuel was the chief.

The oldest son of Gershom was Shubael.

17 And the sons of Eli'ezer were, Rechahyah the chief. And Eli'ezer had no other sons; but the sons of Rechahyah became exceedingly numerous.

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

18 Of the sons of Yizhar, was Shelomith the chief.

The oldest son of Izhar was Shelomith.

19 The sons of Hebron: Jeriyahu the chief, Amaryah the second, Jachaziel the third, and Jekam'am the fourth.

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

20 The sons of 'Uzziel: Michah the chief, and Yishiyah the second.

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

21 The sons of Merari: Machli, and Mushi. The sons of Machli: El'azar, and Kish.

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

22 And El'azar died, and had no sons, but daughters; and the sons of Kish, their brethren, took them [for wives].

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

23 The sons of Mushi: Machli, and 'Eder, and Jeremoth, three.

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

24 These were the sons of Levi after their family divisions, even the chiefs of the families, as they were counted by numbering the names after their polls, that did the work for the 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 the God of Israel hath given rest unto his people, and he dwelleth in Jerusalem for evermore.

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 Levites are no more bound to carry the tabernacle, and all its vessels for the service thereof.

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

27 Therefore by the last words of David were there numbered of the Levites those who were from twenty years old and above;

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 Because their station was to be at the side of the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the Lord, in the courts, and in the chambers, and by the purification of all holy things, and the work 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 shew-bread, which was put in rows, and for the fine flour for meat-offering, and for the unleavened cakes, and for that which is baked in the pan, and for that which is sodden, and for all manner of dry and wet 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 every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and so also at 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 at all the offering of burnt-offerings unto the Lord on the sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the appointed feasts, according to the number, and after the manner prescribed for 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 that they should keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brethren, in the service of 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.