Solomon Reigns

23 (A)Now when David [a]reached old age, (B)he made his son Solomon king over Israel. And he gathered together all the leaders of Israel with the priests and the Levites.

Offices of the Levites

(C)Now the Levites were counted from thirty years old and upward, and (D)their number by [b]head count of men was thirty-eight thousand. Of these, twenty-four thousand were (E)to oversee the work of the house of the Lord; and six thousand were (F)officers and judges, and four thousand were gatekeepers, and (G)four thousand were praising the Lord with the instruments which [c]David made for giving praise. David divided them into divisions (H)according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Chronicles 23:1 Lit became old and sated with days
  2. 1 Chronicles 23:3 Lit their heads
  3. 1 Chronicles 23:5 Lit I made

23 So when David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel.

And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites.

Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward: and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty and eight thousand.

Of which, twenty and four thousand were to set forward the work of the house of the Lord; and six thousand were officers and judges:

Moreover four thousand were porters; and four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith.

And David divided them into courses among the sons of Levi, namely, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

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23 By this time David was an old, old man, so he stepped down from the throne and appointed his son Solomon as the new king of Israel. He summoned all the political and religious leaders of Israel for the coronation ceremony. At this time a census was taken of the men of the tribe of Levi who were thirty years or older. The total came to 38,000.

4-5 “Twenty-four thousand of them will supervise the work at the Temple,” David instructed, “6,000 are to be bailiffs and judges, 4,000 will be Temple guards, and 4,000 will praise the Lord with the musical instruments I have made.”

Then David divided them into three main divisions named after the sons of Levi—the Gershom division, the Kohath division, and the Merari division.

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