The Daily Audio Bible

Rules for the priests

24 Aaron's descendants, the priests, were in the following groups.

Aaron's four sons were: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ² But Nadab and Abihu died before their father died. They had no sons. So Eleazar and Ithamar served God as priests.

³ Zadok and Ahimelech helped David to put Aaron's descendants into groups. Zadok was a descendant of Eleazar. Ahimelech was a descendant of Ithamar. They told each group what their work would be to serve God. ⁴ There were more leaders among Eleazar's descendants than among Ithamar's descendants. So from Eleazar's descendants, there were 16 groups with their leaders. From Ithamar's descendants there were eight groups with their leaders. ⁵ They used lots to decide the work of each group. The families of both Eleazar and Ithamar included officers for the temple as well as priests.

⁶ Shemaiah was the secretary who wrote down the names in each group. He was the son of Nethanel, a Levite. Shemaiah wrote down the names while the king and his officers watched. Zadok the priest, Abiathar's son Ahimelech and the leaders of the priests' clans and of the other Levite clans were also watching. When they threw the lots, they would choose a family from Eleazar's descendants, then a family from Ithamar's descendants, and so on.

^7-18 This is the list of the group leaders as they chose them, one by one:

¹⁹ Each of these leaders, with their group, had their jobs to do in the temple. They had to obey the rules that their ancestor Aaron had given. The Lord, Israel's God, had told him what they must do.

The other Levites

²⁰ The leaders of the other Levite families included:^[a]

That is the list of the Levites, with the leaders of each family.

³¹ They also used lots to choose their different jobs, as their relatives, Aaron's descendants, had done. King David, Zadok, Ahimelech and the family leaders of the priests and the other Levites watched them. They chose work for the family leaders in the same way that they did for their younger brothers.

Groups of temple musicians

25 David and the army officers chose some Levites to serve God as musicians. They belonged to the families of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun. They chose these men to speak messages from God while they made music with harps, lyres and cymbals. Here is a list of the men that they chose for this work:

² From Asaph's sons, there were: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah and Asarelah. Asaph had authority over their work. He would speak a message from God when the king told him to do that.

³ From Jeduthun's sons, there were six musicians: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah and Mattithiah. Their father Jeduthun had authority over their work. He spoke messages from God while he made music with a harp. He also sang to thank the Lord and to praise him.

⁴ From Heman's sons, there were: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-Ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir and Mahazioth. ⁵ All those men were sons of Heman, the king's prophet. God had promised to give Heman many children who would give him honour. God gave him 14 sons and three daughters.

⁶ All these musicians were under the authority of their fathers. They used cymbals, harps and lyres to make music to worship the Lord in his temple. The king had authority over Asaph, Jeduthun and Heman. ⁷ All those men had skills to make good music, as well as their relatives. There were 288 Levites who served the Lord as musicians. ⁸ They used lots to decide the right work for each musician. They chose work for everyone in the same way: the young men and the older men, the teachers and the students.

^9-31 They chose 24 groups of musicians. There were 12 musicians in each group and each group had its leader. These were the names of the leaders of each group, from the first to the last that they chose:

Groups of temple guards

26 These are the groups of guards for the entrances of the temple:^[b]

From Korah's descendants there was Kore's son Meshelemiah, who was a descendant of Asaph.

² Meshelemiah's seven sons were: Zechariah (his firstborn son), then Jediael (his second son), Zebadiah (his third son), Jathniel (his fourth son), ³ Elam (his fifth son), Jehohanan (his sixth son) and Eliehoenai (his seventh son).

⁴ Obed-Edom's sons were: Shemaiah (his firstborn son), Jehozabad (his second son), Joah (his third son), Sachar (his fourth son), Nethanel (his fifth son), ⁵ Ammiel (his sixth son), Issachar (his seventh son) and Peullethai (his eighth son). God blessed Obed-Edom with those eight sons.

^6-7 Obed-Edom's son Shemaiah had four sons. They were called Othni, Rephael, Obed and Elzabad. They were leaders in their clan, because they were brave men. People respected them very much. People also respected their relatives, Elihu and Semakiah.

⁸ There were 62 descendants of Obed-Edom. People respected them, as well as their sons and their relatives. They could all do their work well.

⁹ Meshelemiah had 18 sons and relatives. People respected them as men who could work well.

¹⁰ From Merari's descendants there was Hosah. He had four sons: Shimri was his firstborn son. His father chose him to be the leader among his sons, but he was not the oldest of them. ¹¹ Hilkiah was Hosah's second son, Tebaliah was his third son and Zechariah was his fourth son. 13 men from among Hosah's sons and relatives worked as guards for the temple.

Abraham believed God

4 Abraham was the ancestor of all of us who are Jews. Think about what he discovered. ² God did not accept Abraham as right with him because Abraham had done good things. If God had done that, then Abraham would have been able to boast about himself. But he could not boast to God. ³ Remember what the Bible tells us. It says: ‘Abraham believed God. As a result, God accepted Abraham as right with him.’^[a]

⁴ When a person works to get money, it is right for him to receive his money. That money is not a gift. It is what that person ought to receive as a result of his work. ⁵ But someone may believe in God. He does not work to cause God to accept him. God accepts that person because of their faith. God says that people who have turned away from him are right with him, if they trust him. That is God's gift to them. ⁶ David also wrote about the same thing. He describes those people that God has accepted as right with himself. God has not accepted them because they have done good things, but as his gift to them. David tells us how happy people like that are. ⁷ David says:

⁹ God does this for all people, both Jews and Gentiles. All people can be really happy like this, when God accepts them. As we have said, Abraham believed God. As a result, God accepted Abraham as right with him. ¹⁰ They circumcised Abraham to show that he was a Jew. Think about the time when God accepted Abraham. Did it happen before they circumcised him, or after that? We know that it was before they circumcised him! ¹¹ Some time after that, God told Abraham that someone should circumcise him. That would be a mark on his body to show that God had accepted him. God had already accepted Abraham because Abraham believed in him. God did not accept Abraham because they had circumcised him as a Jewish man. This shows that Abraham is like a father to everyone that God has accepted. Like Abraham, God has accepted them because they have believed in him. It is not important that nobody has circumcised them. ¹² But Abraham is also like the father of all Jews who believe in God. Someone has circumcised those Jews, but they have copied Abraham's example. They have believed in God, as Abraham believed before anyone had circumcised him.^[c]

This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.

A prayer for help^[a]