1 Chronicles 23 1-1 Chronicles 23 26
Now when David reached old age, he made his son Solomon king over Israel.And he gathered together all the leaders of Israel with the priests and the Levites.Now the Levites were counted from thirty years old and upward, and their number by head count of men 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 which David made for giving praise.David divided them into divisions according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.Of the Gershonites there were Ladan and Shimei.The sons of Ladan were Jehiel the first, and Zetham and Joel, three.The sons of Shimei were Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers’ households of Ladan.The sons of Shimei were Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei.Jahath was the first and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they became a father’s household, one group for duty.The sons of Kohath were four in number: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.The sons of Amram were Aaron and Moses. And Aaron was set apart to sanctify him as most holy, he and his sons forever, to burn incense before the Lord, to serve Him and bless in His name forever.But as for Moses, the man of God, his sons were named among the tribe of Levi.The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer.The son of Gershom was Shebuel the chief.The son of Eliezer was Rehabiah the chief; and Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.The son of Izhar was Shelomith the chief.The sons of Hebron were Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.The sons of Uzziel were Micah the first and Isshiah the second.The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and Kish.Eleazar died and had no sons, but only daughters; so their relatives, the sons of Kish, took them as wives.The sons of Mushi were three: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth.These were the sons of Levi according to their fathers’ households, the heads of the fathers’ households of those among them who were counted, in the number of names by their head count, doing the work for the service of the house of the Lord, from twenty years old and upward.For David said,“ The Lord God of Israel has given rest to His people, and He dwells in Jerusalem forever.Also, the Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle and all its utensils for its service.”
Numbers 8:9-26
So you shall present the Levites in front of the tent of meeting. You shall also assemble the whole congregation of the sons of Israel,and present the Levites before the Lord; and the sons of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites.Aaron then shall present the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the sons of Israel, so that they may qualify to perform the service of the Lord.Now the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls; then you are to offer the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites.And you shall have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons so as to present them as a wave offering to the Lord.“ So you shall single out the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and the Levites shall be Mine.Then after that the Levites may go in to serve the tent of meeting. But you shall cleanse them and present them as a wave offering;for they are exclusively given to Me from among the sons of Israel. I have taken them for Myself instead of the firstborn of every womb, the firstborn of all the sons of Israel.For every firstborn among the sons of Israel is Mine, among the people and among the animals; on the day that I fatally struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for Myself.But I have taken the Levites instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel.And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the sons of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement on behalf of the sons of Israel, so that there will be no affliction among the sons of Israel due to their approaching the sanctuary.”So this is what Moses, Aaron, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel did to the Levites; according to everything that the Lord had commanded Moses regarding the Levites, so the sons of Israel did to them.The Levites, too, purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes; and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the Lord. Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them.Then after that the Levites went in to perform their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons; just as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,“ This is what applies to the Levites: from twenty five years old and upward they shall enter to perform service in the work of the tent of meeting.But at the age of fifty years they shall retire from service in the work and not work anymore.They may, however, assist their brothers in the tent of meeting, to fulfill an obligation, but they themselves shall do no work. In this way you shall deal with the Levites in their obligations.”
