1 These are the groups of guards of the temple's gates. Kore's son Meshelemiah was a descendant of Asaph, who was from the clan of Korah. 2 And Meshelemiah had 7 sons. These were their names: Zechariah was born first and Jediael was his second son. Zebadiah was his third son and Jathniel was his 4th son. 3 Elam was his 5th son. Jehohanan was his 6th son and Eliehoenai was his 7th son.
26:3Asaph in verse 1 is not the same as Asaph the musician.
4 Obed-Edom was another guard. God had blessed him with 8 sons. These were their names: Shemaiah was born first. Jehozabad was his second son and Joah was his third son. Sachar was his 4th son and Nethanel was his 5th son. 5 Ammiel was his 6th son. Issachar was his 7th son and Peullethai was his 8th son.
6-7 Also, his son, Shemaiah had 4 sons. They were called Othni, Rephael, Obed and Elzabad. They were rulers in their clan. They were very brave and their relatives, Elihu and Semachiah were also strong men.
8 All those men were sons of Obed-Edom. They and their sons and their relatives were men who could work well. All those men could work well because they were strong. There were 62 of these men who belonged to Obed-Edom's clan.
9 And Meshelemiah had 18 sons and men from among his relatives who could work well.
26:9The job of the temple guards was to be responsible for the gates and doors of the temple. They would open the gates and doors at the right times. And they would close them at the proper times. They would control the entrances to keep out anyone who should not come in.
10 Also, Merari's son Hosah had 4 sons. Shimri was the most important son. Shimri was not born first but his father made him the most important son among his sons. 11 Hilkiah was second. Tebaliah was third and Zechariah was the fourth son. There were 13 men from Hosah's clan who worked as guards.
12 The leaders of the clans agreed how and when each group should work as guards in the LORD's house. 13 They chose their jobs in the same fair way as they had chosen the work for the other Levites. They did that for each gate. They were fair to the large clans but they were also fair to the small ones.
14 They chose Shelemiah for the East gate. They chose his son Zechariah for the North gate and he gave good advice. 15 They chose Obed-Edom to be a guard at the South gate. They chose his sons to be guards at the place where the Levites kept things for their work. 16 Shuppim and Hosah kept the West gate safe and the Shallecheth Gate on the higher road. They chose the times for a group to work each day. 17 Six Levites kept safe the east, four the north and four the south each day. Two worked together each day to be guards at the place where they kept their things. 18 On the west side, there were 4 guards on the road near the yard. And there were two guards on the west side at the yard.
19 That is how they gave their jobs as guards to each group among the clans of Korah and Merari.
20 From the other Levites, Ahijah kept the valuable things safe. That included the valuable things that the priests used in God's house. And it included the valuable things that people had given to God.
21 Ladan was a descendant of Gershon and he was the ancestor of several clans. Jehieli was a leader of one clan. 22 The sons of Jehieli, Zetham and his brother Joel, kept safe the valuable things in the LORD's house.
23 The descendants of Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel did other work. 24 Gershom's descendant, Shebuel was the most important officer over the valuable things. Gershom was a son of Moses. 25 Gershom's brother, Eliezer was the father of Rehabiah. Jeshaiah was his son and he was the father of Joram. Joram's son, Zichri, was the father of Shelomoth. 26 Shelomoth and his relatives kept safe all the holy things that King David had given to God. The leaders of clans and army officers had also given things to God. Some officers were over groups of 1000 soldiers and some officers were over groups of 100 soldiers. Shelomoth and his relatives kept those holy things safe too. 27 When the Israelites won a fight, they won things from their enemies. Then they took a part of the good things that they had won. Then they gave them to pay for repairs to the LORD's house. 28 That included all the things that Samuel the prophet and Saul the son of Kish had given. And it included the things that Ner's son, Abner had given. And it included the things that Zeruiah's son Joab had given. Shelomoth and his relatives kept those things safe too.
29 Chenaniah and his sons were descendants of Izhar. They did not work in the temple. They were judges and officers over Israel.
30 Hashabiah, Hebron's descendant, had 1700 good workers in his clan. They were over the people to the west of the River Jordan. They made it sure that they worked for the LORD and for the king in a proper way. 31 Jerijah was the most important man among Hebron's descendants. When David had been king for 40 years, people looked in the records of their ancestors and of their descendants. They read there that great soldiers of the Hebron clan were living at Jazer in Gilead. 32 There were 2700 men from Jerijah's clan who were good leaders. King David told them that they must be leaders of Reuben's tribe, Gad's tribe and the half tribe of Manasseh. They were over them for everything that was important to God or to the king.
26:32David organised all of this during the 40th year of his rule. That was his last year before he died.