David closes his reign by organizing 38,000 Levites into permanent service roles for the temple Solomon will build, establishing the worship infrastructure that will govern Israel’s priestly life in Jerusalem.

Full sung version coming soon.

Lyrics

So when David was old and full of days He made Solomon his son king over Israel

And David gathered together all the princes of Israel With the priests and the Levites And the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward And the number of them by their polls, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand

Of whom 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 praised the Lord with the instruments Which David made, said David, for giving praise

And David divided them into courses amongst the sons of Levi Namely, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari

Of the Gershonites were Ladan and Shimei The sons of Ladan, Jehiel the chief and Zethan and Joel, three The sons of Shimei, Shelomoth and Haziel and Haran, three

Of the sons of Kohath, Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four The sons of Amram, Aaron and Moses And Aaron was separated that he should sanctify the most holy things

Of the sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi The sons of Mahli, Eleazar and Kish And Eleazar died and had no sons but daughters

The sons of Mushi, Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth, three These were the sons of the Levites after their fathers’ houses Even the chief of the fathers, as they were counted

The Levites appointed The order established The service ordained The priesthood holds

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1 Chronicles 23 sung by Psalm Selah. The whole Bible, one chapter at a time.

Published 2026-05-22 · Last updated 2026-06-06
Written by Reid Wender, Editorial Director at Psalmody Press