1 Chronicles 23

1 Now, David, was old, and satisfied with days, —so 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 gathered together all the rulers of Israel, with the priests, and the Levites.

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

3 Now the Levites were numbered, from thirty years old and upwards, —and their number by their polls, of mature men, was thirty-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—to preside over the work of the house of Yahweh, were twenty-four thousand, —and officers and judges, six thousand;

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 doorkeepers, —and, four thousand, were offerers of praise unto Yahweh, with instruments, which [said David] I made for offering praise.

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 courses, —pertaining to the sons of Levi, 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, Ladan and Shimei.

From the descendants of Gershon there were Ladan and Shimei.

8 The sons of Ladan, the chief Jehiel, 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 Shimei, Shelomoth and Haziel and Haran, three, —these, were the ancestral chiefs of Ladan.

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 Shimei, Jahath, Zina, and Jeush, and Beriah, —these, were the sons of Shimei, four.

There were four men who were other sons of Shimei:

11 And Jahath was chief, and Zizah the second, —but, Jeush and Beriah, had not many sons, so they became an ancestral house, by one reckoning.

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 Kohath, Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four.

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

13 The sons of Amram, Aaron and Moses, —and Aaron was separated, to hallow the holy of holies, he and his sons, unto times age-abiding, to make a perfume before Yahweh, to be in attendance upon him, and to bless in his name, unto times age-abiding;

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 called unto 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 Eliezer.

The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer.

16 the sons of Gershom, were Shebuel the chief;

The oldest son of Gershom was Shubael.

17 and the sons of Eliezer were Rehabiah the chief, —and Eliezer had no other sons, but, the sons of Rehabiah, were very many.

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

18 The sons of Izhar, Shelomith the chief.

The oldest son of Izhar was Shelomith.

19 The sons of Hebron, Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jehaziel the third, and Jekameam 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, Micah the chief, and Isshiah the second.

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

21 The sons of Merari, were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli, were Eleazar and Kish.

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

22 But Eleazar died, and had no sons, but daughters only, —and so the sons of Kish their brethren took them.

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

23 The sons of Mushi, were Mahli and Eder and Jeremoth, three.

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

24 These, were the sons of Levi by their ancestral house, the ancestral chiefs of them who were counted in the number of their names, by their polls, doing the work, for the service of the house of Yahweh, —from twenty years old, and upwards.

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, said David, Yahweh the God of Israel hath given rest unto his people, —and hath taken up his habitation in Jerusalem, unto times age-abiding;

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 moreover also, as for the Levites, they have no need to bear the habitation, nor any of its vessels in the laborious work thereof.

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, the same, were the number of the sons of Levi, —from twenty years old, and upwards.

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, their duty, was—to be in attendance upon the sons of Aaron, in the laborious work of the house of Yahweh, over the courts, and over the chambers, and over the purifying of everything holy, —and doing the laborious work, 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 bread set in array, and for the fine meal for the meal-offering, and for the unleavened cakes, even for that which is baked in a pan, for the moistened food, —even of every measure, and size;

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, morning by morning, to give thanks and offer praise unto Yahweh, —and, likewise, at even;

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 for all the offering of ascending-sacrifices unto Yahweh, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts, —by number, according to the manner prescribed for them continually, before Yahweh; —

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 shall keep the charge of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the holy place, and the charge of the sons of Aaron, their brethren, —in the laborious work of the house of Yahweh.

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.