1 Chronicles 23
Open in the reader1When Beloved was old and full of years, he installed his son Peace as king over Strives-with-God.
2Then he gathered all the leaders of Strives-with-God, as well as the priests and Joined-Ones.
3The Joined-Ones thirty years of age or older were counted, and the total number of men was 38,000.
4“Of these,” said Beloved, “24,000 are to oversee the work of the house of He-Who-Is, 6,000 are to be officers and judges,
54,000 are to be gatekeepers, and 4,000 are to praise He-Who-Is with the instruments I have made for giving praise.”
6Then Beloved divided the children of Joined into divisions according to the sons of Joined: Sojourner-There, Assembly, and Bitter.
7The Sojourners-There: Ladan and My-Hearing.
8The sons of Ladan: God-Lives the first, Olive-Tree, and He-Who-Is-God—three in all.
9The sons of My-Hearing: Peace, Vision-of-God, and Mountaineer—three in all. These were the heads of the families of Ladan.
10And the sons of My-Hearing: Unity, Prominent, He-Hastens-to-Help, and In-Misfortune. These were the sons of My-Hearing—four in all.
11Unity was the first and Prominent was the second; but He-Hastens-to-Help and In-Misfortune did not have many sons, so they were counted as one family and received a single assignment.
12The sons of Assembly: Kindred-Is-Exalted, Shining-Oil, Association, and My-Strength-Is-God—four in all.
13The sons of Kindred-Is-Exalted: Aaron and Drawn-Out. Aaron and his descendants were set apart forever to consecrate the most devoted things, to burn incense before He-Who-Is, to minister before Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name forever.
14As for Drawn-Out the man of God, his sons were named among the tribe of Joined.
15The sons of Drawn-Out: Sojourner-There and My-God-Is-Help.
16The descendants of Sojourner-There: Captive-of-God was the first.
17The descendants of My-God-Is-Help: He-Who-Is-Has-Widened was the first. My-God-Is-Help did not have any other sons, but the sons of He-Who-Is-Has-Widened were very numerous.
18The sons of Shining-Oil: Peace was the first.
19The sons of Association: He-Who-Is-Throws was the first, He-Who-Is-Has-Said the second, God-Will-See the third, and He-Raises-the-People the fourth.
20The sons of My-Strength-Is-God: Who-Is-Like-He-Who-Is was the first and He-Who-Is-Forgets the second.
21The sons of Bitter: Sickly and Sensitive. The sons of Sickly: My-God-Is-Help and Bow.
22My-God-Is-Help died without having any sons; he had only daughters. Their cousins, the sons of Bow, married them.
23The sons of Sensitive: Sickly, Flock, and Heights —three in all.
24These were the descendants of Joined by their families—the heads of families, registered individually by name—those twenty years of age or older who worked in the service of the house of He-Who-Is.
25For Beloved had said, “He-Who-Is, the God of Strives-with-God, has given rest to His people and has come to dwell in Foundation-of-Peace forever.
26So now the Joined-Ones no longer need to carry the Dwelling or any of the articles for its service.”
27For according to the final instructions of Beloved, the Joined-Ones twenty years of age or older were counted,
28but their duty was to assist the descendants of Aaron with the service of the house of He-Who-Is, being responsible for the courts and chambers, the purification of all the devoted things, and the work of the service of the house of God,
29as well as for the rows of the showbread, the fine flour for the grain offering, the wafers of unleavened bread, the baking, the mixing, and all measurements of quantity and size.
30They were also to stand every morning to give thanks and praise to He-Who-Is, and likewise in the evening.
31Whenever burnt offerings were presented to He-Who-Is on the Rests, New Moons, and appointed feasts, they were to serve regularly before He-Who-Is in the numbers prescribed for them.
32So the Levites were to carry out the responsibilities for the Tent of Meeting and the Devoted Place, and, under their brothers the descendants of Aaron, the service of the house of He-Who-Is.