The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 Now David was old and full of days; and he made his son Solomon king over Israel.
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When David was very old, he made his son Solomon king of Israel.
2 And he got together all the chiefs of Israel, with the priests and the Levites.
2
King David brought together all the Israelite leaders and all the priests and Levites.
3 And the Levites, all those of thirty years old and over, were numbered; and the number of them, by heads, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand.
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He took a census of all the male Levites aged thirty or older. The total was thirty-eight thousand.
4 Of these, twenty-four thousand were to be overseers of the work of the house of the Lord, and six thousand were judges and men of authority
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The king assigned twenty-four thousand to administer the work of the Temple, six thousand to keep records and decide disputes
5 Four thousand were door-keepers; and four thousand gave praise to the Lord with the instruments which I made, said David, for giving praise.
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four thousand to do guard duty, and four thousand to praise the Lord, using the musical instruments provided by the king for this purpose.
6 And David put them into divisions under the names of the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
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David divided the Levites into three groups, according to their clans: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
7 Of the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei.
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Gershon had two sons: Ladan and Shimei.
8 The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief, and Zetham and Joel, three.
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Ladan had three sons: Jehiel, Zetham, and Joel,
9 The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth and Haziel and Haran, three; these were the heads of the families of Ladan.
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who were the heads of the clans descended from Ladan. (Shimei had three sons: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran.)
10 And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zizah and Jeush and Beriah; these four were the sons of Shimei.
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Shimei had four sons: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah, in order of age. Jeush and Beriah did not have many descendants, so they were counted as one clan.
11 Jahath was the chief and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah had only a small number of sons, so they were grouped together as one family.
12 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four.
12
Kohath had four sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
13 The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was made separate and holy, he and his sons for ever, for the care of the most holy things and the burning of offerings before the Lord, to do his work and give blessings in his name for ever.
13
His oldest son, Amram, was the father of Aaron and Moses. (Aaron and his descendants were set apart to be in charge of the sacred objects forever, to burn incense in the worship of the Lord, to serve him, and to bless the people in his name.
14 And the sons of Moses, the man of God, were put into the list of the tribe of Levi
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But the sons of Moses, the man of God, were included among the Levites.
15 The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer.
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Moses had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer.
16 The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the first.
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The leader among Gershom's sons was Shebuel.
17 And the sons of Eliezer: Rehabiah the first; and Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah had a great number.
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Eliezer had only one son, Rehabiah, but Rehabiah had many descendants.
18 The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the first.
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Kohath's second son, Izhar, had a son, Shelomith, the head of the clan.
19 The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth
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Kohath's third son, Hebron, had four sons: Jeriah, Amariah, Jahaziel, and Jekameam
20 The sons of Uzziel: Micah the first, and Isshiah the second.
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Kohath's fourth son, Uzziel, had two sons, Micah and Isshiah.
21 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi; the sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish
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Merari had two sons, Mahli and Mushi. Mahli also had two sons, Eleazar and Kish
22 And at his death Eleazar had no sons, but only daughters, and their relations, the sons of Kish, took them as wives.
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but Eleazar died without having any sons, only daughters. His daughters married their cousins, the sons of Kish.
23 The sons of Mushi: Mahli and Eder and Jeremoth, three.
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Merari's second son, Mushi, had three sons: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth.
24 These were the sons of Levi, grouped by families, the heads of the families of those who were numbered by name, by heads, all those of twenty years old and over who did the work of the house of the Lord.
24
These were the descendants of Levi, by clans and families, every one of them registered by name. Each of his descendants, twenty years of age or older, had a share in the work of the Lord's Temple.
25 For David said, The Lord, the God of Israel, has given his people rest, and he has made his resting-place in Jerusalem for ever;
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David said, "The Lord God of Israel has given peace to his people, and he himself will live in Jerusalem forever.
26 And from now, there will be no need for the House of the Lord, and the vessels used in it, to be moved about by the Levites.
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So there is no longer any need for the Levites to carry the Tent of the Lord's presence and all the equipment used in worship."
27 So among the last acts of David was the numbering of the sons of Levi, from twenty years old and over.
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On the basis of David's final instructions all Levites were registered for service when they reached the age of twenty,
28 Their place was by the side of the sons of Aaron in all the work of the house of the Lord, in the open spaces and in the rooms, in the making clean of all the holy things, in doing all the work of the house of the Lord,
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and were assigned the following duties: to help the priests descended from Aaron with the Temple worship, to take care of its courtyards and its rooms, and to keep undefiled everything that is sacred;
29 The holy bread was in their care, and the crushed grain for the meal offering, of unleavened cakes or meal cooked over the fire or in water; they had control of all sorts of weights and measures;
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to be responsible for the bread offered to God, the flour used in offerings, the wafers made without yeast, the baked offerings, and the flour mixed with olive oil; to weigh and measure the Temple offerings;
30 They had to take their places every morning to give praise and make melody to the Lord, and in the same way at evening;
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and to praise and glorify the Lord every morning and every evening
31 At every offering of burned offerings to the Lord, on Sabbaths, and at the new moons, and on the regular feasts, in the number ordered by the law, at all times before the Lord;
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and whenever offerings to the Lord are burned on the Sabbath, the New Moon Festival, and other festivals. Rules were made specifying the number of Levites assigned to do this work each time. The Levites were assigned the duty of worshiping the Lord for all time.
32 And they had the care of the Tent of meeting and the holy place, under the direction of the sons of Aaron their brothers, for the work of the house of the Lord.
32
They were given the responsibility of taking care of the Tent of the Lord's presence and the Temple, and of assisting their relatives, the priests descended from Aaron, in the Temple worship.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.