1 Chronicles 23:3
in 1 Chronicles 23The Levites thirty years of age or older were counted, and the total number of men was 38,000.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward: and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty and eight thousand.
KJV
Now 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.
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This verse in 1 Chronicles 23
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThe text of Chronicles makes a list of the Levites according to the importance and dignity given them by the great Moses. It demonstrates how the successors of Moses were chosen for this purpose and how Zadok was appointed as the high priest, along with …
This site's exposition
numbered from the age of thirty
on 1 Chronicles 23:3-5
The Levites number thirty eight thousand, counted from age thirty as Numbers 4 had set, and David sorts them by task: twenty four thousand for the temple's work, six thousand as officers and judges, four thousand as gatekeepers, and four thousand as musicians on instruments David says he made himself. No earlier text gives Israel's worship a standing body of musicians on this scale, and the claim of authorship stands in the text without further comment. Adam Clarke reads the phrase against Amos 6:5, which faults instruments made for luxury, and takes David's claim as distinct in purpose from the sin the prophet later names.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years, and upward,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Thirty years and upward - The enumeration of the Levites made in the desert, Num 4:3, was from thirty years upwards to fifty years. In this place, the latter limit is not mentioned, probably because the service was not so laborious now; for the ark being fixed they had no longer any heavy burdens to carry, and therefore even an old man might continue to serve the tabernacle. David made another ordinance afterwards; see on 1Ch 23:24-27 (note).
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
It was, in all likelihood, this vast increase that suggested and rendered expedient that classification, made in the last year of David's reign, which the present and three subsequent chapters describe. by their polls, man by man--Women and children were not included.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּסָּֽפְרוּ֙ | vaiyisaferu | and they were counted | H5608 → | 159 times |
| הַלְוִיִּ֔ם | halviyim | the Levites | H3881 → | 291 times |
| מִבֶּ֛ן | miben | from a son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| שְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים | sheloshim | thirty | H7970 → | 172 times |
| שָׁנָ֖ה | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| וָמָ֑עְלָה | vamaelah | and up -wards | H4605 → | 140 times |
| וַיְהִ֨י | vayhi | and it was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| מִסְפָּרָ֤ם | misparam | number their | H4557 → | 134 times |
| לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָם֙ | legulgelotam | to skulls their | H1538 → | 12 times |
| לִגְבָרִ֔ים | ligvarim | to men | H1397 → | 65 times |
| שְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים | sheloshim | thirty | H7970 → | 172 times |
| וּשְׁמוֹנָ֖ה | ushemonah | and eight | H8083 → | 109 times |
| אָֽלֶף׃ | ʾalef | thousand | H505 → | 505 times |
וַיִּסָּֽפְרוּ֙and they were counted
vaiyisaferuH5608 →159 times
הַלְוִיִּ֔םthe Levites
halviyimH3881 →291 times
מִבֶּ֛ןfrom a son of
mibenH1121 →4930 times
שְׁלֹשִׁ֥יםthirty
sheloshimH7970 →172 times
שָׁנָ֖הyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
וָמָ֑עְלָהand up -wards
vamaelahH4605 →140 times
וַיְהִ֨יand it was
vayhiH1961 →3559 times
מִסְפָּרָ֤םnumber their
misparamH4557 →134 times
לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָם֙to skulls their
legulgelotamH1538 →12 times
לִגְבָרִ֔יםto men
ligvarimH1397 →65 times
שְׁלֹשִׁ֥יםthirty
sheloshimH7970 →172 times
וּשְׁמוֹנָ֖הand eight
ushemonahH8083 →109 times
אָֽלֶף׃thousand
ʾalefH505 →505 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Chronicles 23:24These were the descendants of Levi by their families—the heads of families, registered individually by name—those twenty years of age or older who worked in the service of the house of the LORD.
it leads to
- Numbers 10:17
Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonites and the Merarites set out, transporting it.
- Numbers 10:21
Then the Kohathites set out, transporting the holy objects; the tabernacle was to be set up before their arrival.
- Numbers 4:3
men from thirty to fifty years old—everyone who is qualified to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.
- Ezra 3:8
In the second month of the second year after they had arrived at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak, and the rest of their associates including…
- Numbers 8:24
“This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years of age or older shall enter to perform the service in the work at the Tent of Meeting.
- Numbers 10:17
About 1 Chronicles
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Procopius of Gaza, COMMENTARY ON 1 CHRONICLES 23.