דברי הימים א 23
| ודויד זקן ושבע ימים וימלך את שלמה בנו על ישראל׃ | 1 |
David was a very old man [DOU] when he appointed his son Solomon to be the next king.
| ויאסף את כל שרי ישראל והכהנים והלוים׃ | 2 |
David gathered the leaders of Israel and the priests and other descendants of Levi.
| ויספרו הלוים מבן שלשים שנה ומעלה ויהי מספרם לגלגלתם לגברים שלשים ושמונה אלף׃ | 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.
| מאלה לנצח על מלאכת בית יהוה עשרים וארבעה אלף ושטרים ושפטים ששת אלפים׃ | 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.
| וארבעת אלפים שערים וארבעת אלפים מהללים ליהוה בכלים אשר עשיתי להלל׃ | 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.”
| ויחלקם דויד מחלקות לבני לוי לגרשון קהת ומררי׃ | 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.
| לגרשני לעדן ושמעי׃ | 7 |
From the descendants of Gershon there were Ladan and Shimei.
| בני לעדן הראש יחיאל וזתם ויואל שלשה׃ | 8 |
There were three sons of Ladan: Jehiel was the oldest, and his [younger] brothers Zetham and Joel.
| בני שמעי שלמות וחזיאל והרן שלשה אלה ראשי האבות ללעדן׃ | 9 |
There were three of the sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran. They were all leaders of the clans of Ladan.
| ובני שמעי יחת זינא ויעוש ובריעה אלה בני שמעי ארבעה׃ | 10 |
There were four men who were other sons of Shimei:
| ויהי יחת הראש וזיזה השני ויעוש ובריעה לא הרבו בנים ויהיו לבית אב לפקדה אחת׃ | 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.
| בני קהת עמרם יצהר חברון ועזיאל ארבעה׃ | 12 |
Kohath had four sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
| בני עמרם אהרן ומשה ויבדל אהרן להקדישו קדש קדשים הוא ובניו עד עולם להקטיר לפני יהוה לשרתו ולברך בשמו עד עולם׃ | 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.
| ומשה איש האלהים בניו יקראו על שבט הלוי׃ | 14 |
The sons of Moses, the man who served God [well], were counted as part of the tribe of Levi.
| בני משה גרשם ואליעזר׃ | 15 |
The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer.
| בני גרשום שבואל הראש׃ | 16 |
The oldest son of Gershom was Shubael.
| ויהיו בני אליעזר רחביה הראש ולא היה לאליעזר בנים אחרים ובני רחביה רבו למעלה׃ | 17 |
Rehabiah was the oldest son of Eliezer. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had many sons.
| בני יצהר שלמית הראש׃ | 18 |
The oldest son of Izhar was Shelomith.
| בני חברון יריהו הראש אמריה השני יחזיאל השלישי ויקמעם הרביעי׃ | 19 |
Hebron had four sons. Jeriah was his oldest son, and his [younger] brothers were Amariah, Jahaziel, and Jekameam.
| בני עזיאל מיכה הראש וישיה השני׃ | 20 |
Uzziel had two sons. Micah was the oldest son, and his [younger] brother was Isshiah.
| בני מררי מחלי ומושי בני מחלי אלעזר וקיש׃ | 21 |
Merari had two sons: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish.
| וימת אלעזר ולא היו לו בנים כי אם בנות וישאום בני קיש אחיהם׃ | 22 |
Eleazar had no sons; he had only daughters. Their cousins, the sons of Kish, married them.
| בני מושי מחלי ועדר וירמות שלשה׃ | 23 |
The three sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth.
| אלה בני לוי לבית אבתיהם ראשי האבות לפקודיהם במספר שמות לגלגלתם עשה המלאכה לעבדת בית יהוה מבן עשרים שנה ומעלה׃ | 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.
| כי אמר דויד הניח יהוה אלהי ישראל לעמו וישכן בירושלם עד לעולם׃ | 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.
| וגם ללוים אין לשאת את המשכן ואת כל כליו לעבדתו׃ | 26 |
Therefore, the descendants of Levi no longer need to carry the Sacred Tent and the items used in the work there.”
| כי בדברי דויד האחרנים המה מספר בני לוי מבן עשרים שנה ולמעלה׃ | 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.
| כי מעמדם ליד בני אהרן לעבדת בית יהוה על החצרות ועל הלשכות ועל טהרת לכל קדש ומעשה עבדת בית האלהים׃ | 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.
| וללחם המערכת ולסלת למנחה ולרקיקי המצות ולמחבת ולמרבכת ולכל משורה ומדה׃ | 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.
| ולעמד בבקר בבקר להדות ולהלל ליהוה וכן לערב׃ | 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.
| ולכל העלות עלות ליהוה לשבתות לחדשים ולמעדים במספר כמשפט עליהם תמיד לפני יהוה׃ | 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.
| ושמרו את משמרת אהל מועד ואת משמרת הקדש ומשמרת בני אהרן אחיהם לעבדת בית יהוה׃ | 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.
