1 Chronicles 9:19-34

19Shallum 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.

20Eleazar's son Phinehas had been the leader of the guards at one time. The Lord was with Phinehas to help him.

21Meshelemiah's son Zechariah was also a guard at the entrance of the tent where the Lord met with his people.

22There 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.

23Those men and their descendants had to stand as guards at the gates of the Lord's Holy Place, which had been a special tent.

24The guards stood on the four sides of the Lord's house: the east, west, north and south sides.

25Their 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.

26There 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.

27They 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.

28Some 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.

29Some 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.

30But it was the work of some of the priests to mix the spices.

31Mattithiah was a Levite who belonged to Korah's clan. His work was to prepare the bread that they used as offerings.

32Other 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.

33Some 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.

34Those men were the leaders of the Levite clans. Their names are written in the lists of their clans' ancestors. They lived in Jerusalem.