¹Then when David was old and with his fill of days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel. ²And he gathered all the officials of Israel, and the priests and the Levites. ³And the Levites were counted, from thirty years old and above, and their number by headcount was thirty-eight thousand men. ⁴Of these, twenty-four thousand were to superintend the work of the house of the Lord, whereas six thousand were overseers and judges. ⁵And there were four thousand gatekeepers and four thousand who praised the Lord with instruments, “Which”, David said, “I made for praising.” ⁶And David assigned them in divisions, according with the sons of Levi – Gershon, Kohath and Merari. ⁷According with the Gershonites were Ladan and Shimei. ⁸The sons of Ladan were Jehiel the head, and Zetham and Joel – three of them. ⁹The sons of Shimei were Shelomith and Haziel and Haran – three of them. These were the paternal heads belonging to Ladan. ¹⁰The sons of Shimei were Jahath, Zina and Jeush and Beriah. These sons of Shimei were four in number. ¹¹And Jahath was the head, and Zizah the second, but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, and they became the paternal house of one appointed line. ¹²The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel – four of them. ¹³The sons of Amram were Aaron and Moses. And Aaron was separated so as to consecrate him for the holy of holies – he and his sons age-abidingly – to burn incense before the Lord, to serve him and to bless in his name age-abidingly. ¹⁴And as Moses was a man of God, his sons were called after the tribe of Levi. ¹⁵The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer. ¹⁶The sons of Gershom were Shebuel the head and his line. ¹⁷And the sons of Eliezer were Rehabiah the head and his line. Now Eliezer did not have any other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were ever so many. ¹⁸The sons of Izhar were Shelomith the head and his line. ¹⁹The sons of Hebron were Jeriah the head, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekamam the fourth. ²⁰The sons of Uzziel were Micah the head and Jishshiah the second. ²¹The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish. ²²But Eleazar died, and he didn't have any sons, but daughters, and the sons of Kish their brothers took them as wives. ²³The sons of Mushi were Mahli and Eder and Jeremoth – three of them. ²⁴These were the sons of Levi according to the house of their fathers – the paternal heads by their appointed lines – with the number of names corresponding to their headcount, performing service in the work of the house of the Lord, from twenty years old upwards. ²⁵For David had said, “The Lord God of Israel has given rest to his people, and he will dwell in Jerusalem age-abidingly, ²⁶and also to the Levites because there will be no need to transport the tabernacle and all the equipment for its service.” ²⁷For in the last words of David, the number of the sons of Levi is reckoned from twenty years old and above, ²⁸because their position was as an accessory to the sons of Aaron in the work of the house of the Lord concerning the courtyards and the offices and the purity of all holy equipment, and the work of the service of the house of God, ²⁹including the showbread and the fine flour for the meal-offering, and the thin cakes of unleavened bread, and the baking dish and the stirrer, and for every measure and quantity, ³⁰and to stand every morning to give thanks to and to praise the Lord, and similarly in the evening, ³¹and to stand for all the offering of burnt offerings to the Lord, on the Sabbaths, the new moons, the festival days, in number according to the ordinance imposed on them, continually before the Lord. ³²And they kept guard of the tent of contact and guard of the sanctuary and guard of the sons of Aaron, their brothers, in the work of the house of the Lord.