I Chronicles 23

¹Therfor Dauid was eld and ful of daies, and ordeynede Salomon, his sone, kyng on Israel.

²And he gaderide togidere alle the princes of Israel, and the preestis, and dekenes;

³and the dekenes weren noumbrid fro twenti yeer and aboue, and eiyte and thretti thousynde of men weren foundun.

⁴And foure and twenty thousynde men weren chosun of hem, and weren departid in to the seruyce of the hows of the Lord; sotheli of souereyns, and iugis, sixe thousynde;

⁵forsothe foure thousynde `porteris weren, and so many syngeris, syngynge to the Lord in orguns, whiche Dauid hadde maad for to synge.

⁶And Dauid departide hem bi the whilis of the sones of Leuy, that is, of Gerson, and of Caath, and Merary.

⁷And the sones of Gerson weren Leedan and Semeye.

⁸The sones of Leedan weren thre, the prince Jehiel, and Ethan, and Johel.

⁹The sones of Semei weren thre, Salamyth, and Oziel, and Aram; these weren the princes of the meynees of Leedan.

¹⁰Forsothe the sones of Semeye weren Leeth, and Ziza, and Yaus, and Baria, these foure weren the sones of Semei.

¹¹Sotheli Leeth was the formere, and Ziza the secounde; forsothe Yaus and Baria hadden not ful many sones, and therfor thei weren rikenyd in o meynee and oon hows.

¹²The sones of Caath weren foure, Amram, and Ysaac, Ebron, and Oziel.

¹³The sones of Amram weren Aaron and Moyses; and Aaron was departid, that he schulde mynystre in the hooli thing of hooli thingis, he and hise sones with outen ende, and to brenne encense to the Lord bi his custom, and to blesse his name with outen ende.

¹⁴Also the sones of Moyses, man of God, weren noumbrid in the lynage of Leuy.

¹⁵The sones of Moises weren Gerson and Elieser.

¹⁶The sones of Gerson; `Subuhel the firste.

¹⁷Sotheli the sones of Eliezer weren Roboya the firste, and othere sones weren not to Eliezer; forsothe the sones of Roboia weren multipliede ful miche.

¹⁸The sones of Isaar; `Salumuth the firste.

¹⁹The sones of Ebron; `Jerian the firste, Amarias the secounde, Jaziel the thridde, Jethamaan the fourthe.

²⁰The sones of Oziel; `Mycha the firste, Jesia the secounde.

²¹The sones of Merari weren Mooli and Musi. The sones of Mooli weren Eleazar, and Cys.

²²Sotheli Eleazar was deed, and hadde not sones, but douytris; and the sones of Cys, the britheren of hem, weddiden hem.

²³The sones of Musi weren thre, Mooli, and Heder, and Jerymuth.

²⁴These weren the sones of Leuy in her kynredis and meynees, prynces bi whilis, and noumbre of alle heedis, that diden the trauel of the seruyce of the hows of the Lord, fro twenti yeer and aboue.

²⁵For Dauid seide, The Lord God of Israel hath youe reste to his puple, and a dwellyng in Jerusalem til in to with outen ende;

²⁶and it schal not be the office of dekenes for to bere more the tabernacle, and alle vessels therof for to mynystre.

²⁷Also bi the laste comaundementis of Dauid the noumbre of the sones of Leuy schulen be rikened fro twenti yeer and aboue;

²⁸and thei schulen be vndir the hond of the sones of Aaron in to the worschipe of the hows of the Lord, in porchis, and in chaumbris, and in the place of clensyng, and in the seyntuarie, and in alle werkis of the seruyce of the temple of the Lord.

²⁹Forsothe preestis schulen be ouer the looues of proposicioun, and to the sacrifice of flour, and to the pastis sodun in watir, and to the therf looues, and friyng panne, and to hoot flour, and to seenge, and ouer al weiyte and mesure.

³⁰Forsothe the dekenes schulen be, that thei stonde eerli, for to knowleche and synge to the Lord, and lijk maner at euentide,

³¹as wel in the offryng of brent sacrifices of the Lord, as in sabatis, and kalendis, and othere solempnytees, bi the noumbre and cerymonyes of eche thing contynueli bifor the Lord;

³²and that thei kepe the obseruaunces of the tabernacle of the boond of pees of the Lord, and the custum of the seyntuarie, and the obseruaunce of the sones of Aaron, her britheren, that thei mynystre in the hows of the Lord.

I Chronicles 23

¹So when David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel.

²And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites.

³Now 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.

⁴Of which, twenty and four thousand were to set forward the work of the house of the Lord; and six thousand were officers and judges:

⁵Moreover four thousand were porters; and four thousand praised the Lord with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith.

⁶And David divided them into courses among the sons of Levi, namely, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷Of the Gershonites were, Laadan, and Shimei.

⁸The sons of Laadan; the chief was Jehiel, and Zetham, and Joel, three.

⁹The sons of Shimei; Shelomith, and Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the chief of the fathers of Laadan.

¹⁰And the sons of Shimei were, Jahath, Zina, and Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei.

¹¹And Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second: but Jeush and Beriah had not many sons; therefore they were in one reckoning, according to their father’s house.

¹²The sons of Kohath; Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four.

¹³The sons of Amram; Aaron and Moses: and Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons for ever, to burn incense before the Lord, to minister unto him, and to bless in his name for ever.

¹⁴Now concerning Moses the man of God, his sons were named of the tribe of Levi.

¹⁵The sons of Moses were, Gershom, and Eliezer.

¹⁶Of the sons of Gershom, Shebuel was the chief.

¹⁷And the sons of Eliezer were, Rehabiah the chief. And Eliezer had none other sons; but the sons of Rehabiah were very many.

¹⁸Of the sons of Izhar; Shelomith the chief.

¹⁹Of the sons of Hebron; Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.

²⁰Of the sons of Uzziel; Michah the first, and Jesiah the second.

²¹The sons of Merari; Mahli, and Mushi. The sons of Mahli; Eleazar, and Kish.

²²And Eleazar died, and had no sons, but daughters: and their brethren the sons of Kish took them.

²³The sons of Mushi; Mahli, and Eder, and Jeremoth, three.

²⁴These were the sons of Levi after the house of their fathers; even the chief of the fathers, as they were counted by number of names by their polls, that did the work for the service of the house of the Lord, from the age of twenty years and upward.

²⁵For David said, The Lord God of Israel hath given rest unto his people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem for ever:

²⁶And also unto the Levites; they shall no more carry the tabernacle, nor any vessels of it for the service thereof.

²⁷For by the last words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above:

²⁸Because their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the Lord, in the courts, and in the chambers, and in the purifying of all holy things, and the work of the service of the house of God;

²⁹Both for the shewbread, and for the fine flour for meat offering, and for the unleavened cakes, and for that which is baked in the pan, and for that which is fried, and for all manner of measure and size;

³⁰And to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at even;

³¹And to offer all burnt sacrifices unto the Lord in the sabbaths, in the new moons, and on the set feasts, by number, according to the order commanded unto them, continually before the Lord:

³²And that they should keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the holy place, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brethren, in the service of the house of the Lord.