The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The First Book of Paralipomena
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Chapter 23
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David was already an old man, and near his end, and had already designated his son Solomon as king of Israel,
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when he held this muster of the rulers, priests and Levites.
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There were thirty-eight thousand Levites over the age of thirty;
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twenty-four thousand of these were appointed to carry out various duties in the Lord’s house; of the rest, six thousand were rulers and judges,
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four thousand were porters, and as many more were musicians, to sound the Lord’s praises with the instruments David had made for psalmody.
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It was David who prescribed courses of service for the various Levite families, all coming down from Gerson, Caath, and Merari.
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From Gerson came Leedan and Semei,✻
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from Leedan Jahiel, Zethan and Joel,
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(from Semei Salomith, Hosiel and Aran; all these of Leedan’s race).
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From Semei Leheth, Ziza, Jaus and Baria,
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the first two taking rank separately, while Jaus and Baria counted as one family, so few were their descendants.
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From Caath came Amram, Isaar, Hebron and Oziel,
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from Amram Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his sons were set apart to serve in the inner sanctuary for all time, to make the Lord due offering of incense and pronounce eternal blessing in his name.
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Moses, too, the man of God’s choice, had descendants who were reckoned among the Levites;
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from him came Gersom and Eliezer.
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Gersom’s first-born son was Subuel,
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and Eliezer’s Rohobia; Eliezer had no other sons, but he had many descendants through Rohobia.
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Isaar’s first-born son was called Salomith.
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From Hebron came Jeriau, Amarias, Jahaziel and Jecmaan,
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from Oziel Micha and Jesia.
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From Merari came Moholi and Musi, from Moholi Eleazar and Cis;
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of these, Eleazar died without male issue, but his daughters married their cousins, the sons of Cis.
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Musi’s sons were Moholi, Eder and Jerimoth.
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Clan and family of the Levites, their courses named after these clan chieftains, used to do duty in the Lord’s house after reaching the age of twenty;
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the Lord God of Israel, thought David, has given his people a resting-place, and made Jerusalem their home for ever;
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no more need of Levites to carry the tabernacle and all its furniture this way and that.
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It was by David’s last dispositions that the Levites were registered as soon as they reached the age of twenty.
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They were to assist the sons of Aaron in the care of the Lord’s temple, in court and chamber, wash-house and shrine, wherever their service was needed.
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There was work (for the priests)✻ to do in setting out the consecrated loaves, looking after the unleavened cakes, the frying and the roasting, the weights and the measures.
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There was work to do (for the Levites) in waiting upon the Lord with songs of praise morning and evening;
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there was burnt-sacrifice to be offered on sabbaths, and at the new moon, and on all other days of solemnity; every occasion had its due ceremonies that must still be carried out in the Lord’s presence.
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The tabernacle with its usages, the sanctuary with its worship, the needs of their brethren, the sons of Aaron, as they ministered in the Lord’s house, were all in the Levites’ charge.
