Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 23:27
For according to the final instructions of David, the Levites twenty years of age or older were counted,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Chronicler records David’s administrative decree regarding the Levites, specifying the age threshold for their new administrative and assistive roles after the tabernacle’s transport duties were abolished.
The words — אַחֲרֹנִים (acharonim) translates literally to “last” or “final,” modifying David’s instructions, while מִסְפָּר (mispar) means “number” or “count,” indicating a formal registry.
The thread — This age adjustment contrasts with 1 Chronicles 23:3, where thirty-year-olds were counted, and aligns with 1 Chronicles 23:24 and 2 Samuel 23:1, which frame the decree within David’s final recorded instructions.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to note the administrative shift in Levite service from physical transport to temple assistance, with eligibility lowered to twenty years old under David’s explicit order.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For by the last words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above:
Cross-references
- 1 Chronicles 23:24 These 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.
- 2 Samuel 23:1 These are the last words of David: “The oracle of David son of Jesse, the oracle of the man raised on high, the one anointed by the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel:
- 1 Chronicles 23:3 The Levites thirty years of age or older were counted, and the total number of men was 38,000.
- Psalms 72:20 Thus conclude the prayers of David son of Jesse.