Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 23:4
“Of these,” said David, “24,000 are to oversee the work of the house of the LORD, 6,000 are to be officers and judges,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David addresses the Levite leaders as he finalizes the organizational structure for the temple service. He allocates the previously counted thirty-year-old Levite population into specific functional roles for the house of Yahweh.
The words — The term לְנַצֵּ֙חַ֙ (le·na·ṣe·ḥaḥ) literally means to act as overseers or directors. The verse specifies twenty-four thousand men for this oversight duty and six thousand for officer and judge functions.
The thread — The assignment of judicial officers aligns with the Deuteronomic mandate to appoint judges and officials in every community (Deuteronomy 16:18; 17:8). The broader distribution of Levite labor corresponds to the later chronicler’s inventory of temple personnel (2 Chronicles 19:8).
Why it lands — The passage requires readers to treat administrative oversight and judicial service as integral components of sacred work. It demands a practical response to organized duty rather than abstract reverence.
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
Of which, twenty and four thousand were to set forward the work of the house of the Lord; and six thousand were officers and judges:
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 19:8 Moreover, Jehoshaphat appointed in Jerusalem some of the Levites, priests, and heads of the Israelite families to judge on behalf of the LORD and to settle disputes. And they lived in Jerusalem.
- Deuteronomy 16:18 You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.
- Deuteronomy 17:8 If a case is too difficult for you to judge, whether the controversy within your gates is regarding bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults, you must go up to the place the LORD your God will choose.
- 1 Chronicles 6:48 Their fellow Levites were assigned to every kind of service of the tabernacle, the house of God.
- 1 Chronicles 9:28 Some of them were in charge of the articles used in worship, to count them whenever they were brought in or taken out.
- 1 Chronicles 23:28 but their duty was to assist the descendants of Aaron with the service of the house of the LORD, being responsible for the courts and chambers, the purification of all the holy things, and the work of the service of the house of God,
- 1 Chronicles 26:20 Now their fellow Levites were in charge of the treasuries of the house of God and the treasuries of the dedicated things.
- 1 Chronicles 26:29 From the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons had the outside duties as officers and judges over Israel.
- 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 the priests, the Levites, and all who had returned to Jerusalem from the captivity, began the work. They appointed Levites twenty years of age or older to supervise the construction of the house of the LORD.
- Nehemiah 11:9 Joel son of Zichri was the officer over them, and Judah son of Hassenuah was over the Second District of the city.