Levites who were temple guards
17 The Levite guards at the gates of the temple were: Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman and their relatives. Shallum was their leader. 18 Those guards stood at the King's Gate on the east side of the temple.
19 Shallum was the son of Kore and grandson of Ebiasaph, who belonged to Korah's clan. Shallum and his relatives from Korah's clan were guards at the entrance of the Lord's Holy Place. Their ancestors had also been guards at the entrance of the Lord's special tent. 20 Eleazar's son Phinehas had been the leader of the guards at one time. The Lord was with Phinehas to help him. 21 Meshelemiah's son Zechariah was also a guard at the entrance of the tent where the Lord met with his people.
22 There were 212 guards for the gates of the temple. Their names were written in the lists of their ancestors, for each village where they lived. King David and the prophet Samuel had chosen their ancestors to do this important work as guards. 23 Those men and their descendants had to stand as guards at the gates of the Lord's Holy Place, which had been a special tent. 24 The guards stood on the four sides of the Lord's house: the east, west, north and south sides. 25 Their relatives lived in their villages. They came to Jerusalem to help with the work as guards. Each time that they came, they worked there for seven days. 26 There were four faithful Levite guards who led the work. They kept safe the rooms in God's house where they stored valuable things and money. 27 They stayed at their places around God's house during each night. It was their work to keep it safe. Each morning they would use their key to open the gates.
28 Some of the guards kept safe the valuable things that the priests used when they served the Lord. The guards counted those things when the priests brought them in. They counted them again when the priests took them out.
29 Some other guards kept safe the tools and the valuable things that were in the Holy Place. Some guards took care of the flour, wine, olive oil, incense and spices. 30 But it was the work of some of the priests to mix the spices. 31 Mattithiah was a Levite who belonged to Korah's clan. His work was to prepare the bread that they used as offerings. 32 Other Levites who belonged to Kohath's clan prepared the bread for the special table. The priests put this bread on the special table in the Holy Place each Sabbath day.
33 Some of the Levites were musicians in the temple. The leaders of those clans lived in rooms at the temple. They needed to do their work as musicians during the night, as well as during the day. So they did not have other jobs to do in the temple. 34 Those men were the leaders of the Levite clans. Their names are written in the lists of their clans' ancestors. They lived in Jerusalem.
