The Divisions of the Levites
And David was old and full of days; and he made Solomon his son king over Israel.
And he gathered all the officials of Israel, and the priests and the Levites.
And the Levites were counted from thirty years old and upward; and their number, by their heads, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand.
Of these, twenty-four thousand were to oversee the work of the house of the LORD, and six thousand were officers and judges,
and four thousand were gatekeepers, and four thousand were praising the LORD with the instruments “that I made for praising,” said David.
And David divided them into divisions, by the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
The Gershonites
Of the Gershonite: Ladan, and Shimei.
The sons of Ladan: the head, Jehiel, and Zetham, and Joel — three.
The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, and Haziel, and Haran — three. These were the heads of the fathers of Ladan.
And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, and Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei.
And Jahath was the head, and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they became one father’s house, one reckoning.
The Kohathites
The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel — four.
The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. And Aaron was set apart, to consecrate him as most holy — he and his sons, forever — to burn incense before the LORD, to minister to him, and to bless in his name forever.
And Moses, the man of God — his sons were counted with the tribe of Levi.
The sons of Moses: Gershom, and Eliezer.
The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the head.
And the sons of Eliezer were: Rehabiah the head. And Eliezer had no other sons; but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.
The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the head.
The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the head, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.
The sons of Uzziel: Micah the head, and Isshiah the second.
The Merarites
The sons of Merari: Mahli, and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar, and Kish.
And Eleazar died, and he had no sons — only daughters; and the sons of Kish, their brothers, took them as wives.
The sons of Mushi: Mahli, and Eder, and Jeremoth — three.
Levite Duties Revised
These were the sons of Levi by the houses of their fathers — heads of the fathers, as they were mustered, by the count of names, by their heads — doing the work of the service of the house of the LORD, from twenty years old and upward.
For David said: “The LORD, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people; and he dwells in Jerusalem forever.
And also the Levites will no longer need to carry the dwelling place and all its vessels for its service.”
For by the last words of David, these were the count of the sons of Levi, from twenty years old and upward.
For their station was at the hand of the sons of Aaron, for the service of the house of the LORD — over the courts, and over the chambers, and over the purifying of every holy thing — the work of the service of the house of God:
for the bread of the arrangement, and for the fine flour for the grain offering, and for the wafers of unleavened bread, and for the griddle, and for what is well-mixed, and for every measure of volume and length;
and to stand morning by morning to give thanks and to praise the LORD — and likewise at evening;
and for every offering up of burnt offerings to the LORD, on the sabbaths, at the new moons, and at the appointed feasts — by number, according to the custom concerning them — continually, before the LORD.
And they were to keep the watch of the tent of meeting, and the watch of the holy place, and the watch of the sons of Aaron their brothers, for the service of the house of the LORD.