5For David thought, “My son Solomon is an untried youth, and the House to be built for the LORD is to be made exceedingly great to win fame and glory throughout all the lands; let me then lay aside material for him.” So David laid aside much material before he died. 6Then he summoned his son Solomon and charged him with building the House for the LORD God of Israel.
7David said to Solomon, “My son, I wanted to build a House for the name of the LORD my God. 8But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and fought great battles; you shall not build a House for My name for you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight. 9But you will have a son who will be a man at rest, for I will give him rest from all his enemies on all sides; Solomona will be his name and I shall confer peaceb and quiet on Israel in his time. 10He will build a House for My name; he shall be a son to Me and I to him a father, and I will establish his throne of kingship over Israel forever.’ 11Now, my son, may the LORD be with you, and may you succeed in building the House of the LORD your God as He promised you would. 12Only let God give you sense and understanding and put you in charge of Israel and the observance of the Teaching of the LORD your God. 13Then you shall succeed, if you observantly carry out the laws and the rules that the LORD charged Moses to lay upon Israel. Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid or dismayed. 14See, c-by denying myself,-c I have laid aside for the House of the LORD one hundred thousand talents of gold and one million talents of silver, and so much copper and iron it cannot be weighed; I have also laid aside wood and stone, and you shall add to them. 15An abundance of workmen is at your disposal— hewers, workers in stone and wood, and every kind of craftsman in every kind of material—16gold, silver, copper, and iron without limit. Go and do it, and may the LORD be with you.”
17David charged all the officers of Israel to support his son Solomon, 18“See, the LORD your God is with you, and He will give you rest on every side, for He delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand so that the land lies conquered before the LORD and before His people. 19Now, set your minds and hearts on worshiping the LORD your God, and go build the Sanctuary of the LORD your God so that you may bring the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD and the holy vessels of God to the house that is built for the name of the LORD.”
23 When David reached a ripe old age, he made his son Solomon king over Israel. 2Then David assembled all the officers of Israel and the priests and the Levites. 3The Levites, from the age of thirty and upward, were counted; the head-count of their males was 38,000: 4of these there were 24,000 in charge of the work of the House of the LORD, 6,000 officers and magistrates, 54,000 gatekeepers, and 4,000 for praising the LORD “with instruments I devised for singing praises.” 6David formed them into divisions:
The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 7The Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei. 8The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief, Zetham, and Joel—3. 9The sons of Shimei: Shelomith, Haziel, and Haran—3. These were the chiefs of the clans of the Ladanites. 10And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah; these were the sons of Shimei—4. 11Jahath was the chief and Zizah the second, but Jeush and Beriah did not have many children, so they were enrolled together as a single clan. 12The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel—4. 13The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart, he and his sons, forever, to be consecrated as most holy, to make burnt offerings to the LORD and serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name forever. 14As for Moses, the man of God, his sons were named after the tribe of Levi. 15The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. 16The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the chief. 17And the sons of Eliezer were: Rehabiah the chief. Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very numerous. 18The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the chief. 19The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. 20The sons of Uzziel: Micah the chief and Isshiah the second. 21The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish. 22Eleazar died having no sons but only daughters; the sons of Kish, their kinsmen, married them. 23The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth—3.
24These are the sons of Levi by clans, with their clan chiefs as they were enrolled, with a list of their names by heads, who did the work of the service of the House of the LORD from the age of twenty and upward. 25For David said, “The LORD God of Israel has given rest to His people and made His dwelling in Jerusalem forever. 26Therefore the Levites need not carry the Tabernacle and all its various service vessels.” 27Among the last acts of David was the counting of the Levites from the age of twenty and upward. 28For their appointment was alongside the Aaronites for the service of the House of the LORD, to look after the courts and the chambers, and the purity of all the holy things, and the performance of the service of the House of God, 29and the rows of bread, and the fine flour for the meal offering, and the unleavened wafers, and the cakes made on the griddle and soaked, and every measure of capacity and length; 30and to be present every morning to praise and extol the LORD, and at evening too, 31and whenever offerings were made to the LORD, according to the quantities prescribed for them, on sabbaths, new moons and holidays, regularly, before the LORD; 32and so to keep watch over the Tent of Meeting, over the holy things, and over the Aaronites their kinsmen, for the service of the House of the LORD.
24 The divisions of the Aaronites were:
The sons of Aaron: Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 2Nadab and Abihu died in the lifetime of their father, and they had no children, so Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.
3David, Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar divided them into offices by their tasks. 4The sons of Eleazar turned out to be more numerous by male heads than the sons of Ithamar, so they divided the sons of Eleazar into sixteen chiefs of clans and the sons of Ithamar into eight clans. 5They divided them by lot, both on an equal footing, since they were all sanctuary officers and officers of God— the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar. 6Shemaiah son of Nathanel, the scribe, who was of the Levites, registered them under the eye of the king, the officers, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech son of Abiathar, and the chiefs of clans of the priests and Levites—a-one clan more taken for Eleazar for each one taken of Ithamar.-a
7The first lot fell on Jehoiarib; the second on Jedaiah; 8the third on Harim; the fourth on Seorim; 9the fifth on Malchijah; the sixth on Mijamin; 10the seventh on Hakkoz; the eighth on Abijah; 11the ninth on Jeshua; the tenth on Shecaniah; 12the eleventh on Eliashib; the twelfth on Jakim; 13the thirteenth on Huppah; the fourteenth on Jeshebeab; 14the fifteenth on Bilgah; the sixteenth on Immer; 15the seventeenth on Hezir; the eighteenth on Happizzez; 16the nineteenth on Pethahiah; the twentieth on Jehezkel; 17the twenty-first on Jachin; the twenty-second on Gamul; 18the twenty-third on Delaiah; the twenty-fourth on Maaziah.
19According to this allocation of offices by tasks, they were to enter the House of the LORD as was laid down for them by Aaron their father, as the LORD God of Israel had commanded him.
20The remaining Levites: the sons of Amram: Shubael; the sons of Shubael: Jehdeiah; 21Rehabiah. The sons of Rehabiah: Isshiah, the chief. 22Izharites: Shelomoth. The sons of Shelomoth: Jahath 23and Benai, Jeriah; the second, Amariah; the third, Jahaziel; the fourth, Jekameam. 24The sons of Uzziel: Micah. The sons of Micah: Shamir. 25The brother of Micah: Isshiah. The sons of Isshiah: Zechariah. 26The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Jaazaiah, his son 27—the sons of Merari by Jaazaiah his son: Shoham, Zakkur, and Ibri. 28Mahli: Eleazar; he had no sons. 29Kish: the sons of Kish: Jerahmeel. 30The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites by their clans.
31These too cast lots corresponding to their kinsmen, the sons of Aaron, under the eye of King David and Zadok and Ahimelech and the chiefs of the clans of the priests and Levites, on the principle of “chief and youngest brother alike.”
25 David and the officers of the army set apart for service the sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who prophesied to
