1 Chronicles 23
1 David was a very old man [DOU] when he appointed his son Solomon to be the next king.
Therfor Dauid was eld and ful of daies, and ordeynede Salomon, his sone, kyng on Israel.
2 David gathered the leaders of Israel and the priests and other descendants of Levi.
And he gaderide togidere alle the princes of Israel, and the preestis, and dekenes;
3 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.
and the dekenes weren noumbrid fro twenti yeer and aboue, and eiyte and thretti thousynde of men weren foundun.
4 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.
And foure and twenty thousynde men weren chosun of hem, and weren departid in to the seruyce of the hows of the Lord; sotheli of souereyns, and iugis, sixe thousynde;
5 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.”
forsothe foure thousynde `porteris weren, and so many syngeris, syngynge to the Lord in orguns, whiche Dauid hadde maad for to synge.
6 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.
And Dauid departide hem bi the whilis of the sones of Leuy, that is, of Gerson, and of Caath, and Merary.
7 From the descendants of Gershon there were Ladan and Shimei.
And the sones of Gerson weren Leedan and Semeye.
8 There were three sons of Ladan: Jehiel was the oldest, and his [younger] brothers Zetham and Joel.
The sones of Leedan weren thre, the prince Jehiel, and Ethan, and Johel.
9 There were three of the sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran. They were all leaders of the clans of Ladan.
The sones of Semei weren thre, Salamyth, and Oziel, and Aram; these weren the princes of the meynees of Leedan.
10 There were four men who were other sons of Shimei:
Forsothe the sones of Semeye weren Leeth, and Ziza, and Yaus, and Baria, these foure weren the sones of Semei.
11 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.
Sotheli Leeth was the formere, and Ziza the secounde; forsothe Yaus and Baria hadden not ful many sones, and therfor thei weren rikenyd in o meynee and oon hows.
12 Kohath had four sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
The sones of Caath weren foure, Amram, and Ysaac, Ebron, and Oziel.
13 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.
The sones of Amram weren Aaron and Moyses; and Aaron was departid, that he schulde mynystre in the hooli thing of hooli thingis, he and hise sones with outen ende, and to brenne encense to the Lord bi his custom, and to blesse his name with outen ende.
14 The sons of Moses, the man who served God [well], were counted as part of the tribe of Levi.
Also the sones of Moyses, man of God, weren noumbrid in the lynage of Leuy.
15 The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer.
The sones of Moises weren Gerson and Elieser.
16 The oldest son of Gershom was Shubael.
The sones of Gerson; `Subuhel the firste.
17 Rehabiah was the oldest son of Eliezer. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had many sons.
Sotheli the sones of Eliezer weren Roboya the firste, and othere sones weren not to Eliezer; forsothe the sones of Roboia weren multipliede ful miche.
18 The oldest son of Izhar was Shelomith.
The sones of Isaar; `Salumuth the firste.
19 Hebron had four sons. Jeriah was his oldest son, and his [younger] brothers were Amariah, Jahaziel, and Jekameam.
The sones of Ebron; `Jerian the firste, Amarias the secounde, Jaziel the thridde, Jethamaan the fourthe.
20 Uzziel had two sons. Micah was the oldest son, and his [younger] brother was Isshiah.
The sones of Oziel; `Mycha the firste, Jesia the secounde.
21 Merari had two sons: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish.
The sones of Merari weren Mooli and Musi. The sones of Mooli weren Eleazar, and Cys.
22 Eleazar had no sons; he had only daughters. Their cousins, the sons of Kish, married them.
Sotheli Eleazar was deed, and hadde not sones, but douytris; and the sones of Cys, the britheren of hem, weddiden hem.
23 The three sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.
The sones of Musi weren thre, Mooli, and Heder, and Jerymuth.
24 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.
These weren the sones of Leuy in her kynredis and meynees, prynces bi whilis, and noumbre of alle heedis, that diden the trauel of the seruyce of the hows of the Lord, fro twenti yeer and aboue.
25 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.
For Dauid seide, The Lord God of Israel hath youe reste to his puple, and a dwellyng in Jerusalem til in to with outen ende;
26 Therefore, the descendants of Levi no longer need to carry the Sacred Tent and the items used in the work there.”
and it schal not be the office of dekenes for to bere more the tabernacle, and alle vessels therof for to mynystre.
27 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.
Also bi the laste comaundementis of Dauid the noumbre of the sones of Leuy schulen be rikened fro twenti yeer and aboue;
28 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.
and thei schulen be vndir the hond of the sones of Aaron in to the worschipe of the hows of the Lord, in porchis, and in chaumbris, and in the place of clensyng, and in the seyntuarie, and in alle werkis of the seruyce of the temple of the Lord.
29 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.
Forsothe preestis schulen be ouer the looues of proposicioun, and to the sacrifice of flour, and to the pastis sodun in watir, and to the therf looues, and friyng panne, and to hoot flour, and to seenge, and ouer al weiyte and mesure.
30 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.
Forsothe the dekenes schulen be, that thei stonde eerli, for to knowleche and synge to the Lord, and lijk maner at euentide,
31 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.
as wel in the offryng of brent sacrifices of the Lord, as in sabatis, and kalendis, and othere solempnytees, bi the noumbre and cerymonyes of eche thing contynueli bifor the Lord;
32 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.
and that thei kepe the obseruaunces of the tabernacle of the boond of pees of the Lord, and the custum of the seyntuarie, and the obseruaunce of the sones of Aaron, her britheren, that thei mynystre in the hows of the Lord.
