Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 24:6
The scribe, Shemaiah son of Nethanel, a Levite, recorded their names in the presence of the king and of the officers: Zadok the priest, Ahimelech son of Abiathar, and the heads of families of the priests and the Levites—one family being taken from Eleazar, and then one from Ithamar.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the administrative procedure for distributing priestly duties among the descendants of Eleazar and Ithamar. Shemaiah documents the names of the priests and Levite family heads before King David and the royal officers.
The words — הַסּוֹפֵר (ha-sofer) means "the scribe," designating Shemaiah’s official capacity to document the allocations. לִפְנֵי (li-fnei) translates to "before," specifying the public and authoritative setting where the recording occurred.
The thread — The passage records royal administrators alongside priestly leaders, matching the administrative personnel lists in 1 Chronicles 18:16 and 1 Kings 4:3. The lot-drawing procedure immediately continues in 1 Chronicles 24:7 with the first allotment to Jehoiarib.
Why it lands — The text establishes that sacred duties were distributed through documented, public administration rather than arbitrary selection. A reader must recognize that biblical worship structures were maintained through official record-keeping and verified lineage.
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
And Shemaiah the son of Nethaneel the scribe, one of the Levites, wrote them before the king, and the princes, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and before the chief of the fathers of the priests and Levites: one principal household being taken for Eleazar, and one taken for Ithamar.
Cross-references
- 1 Chronicles 18:16 Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Shavsha was the scribe;
- 1 Kings 4:3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, were secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder;
- 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 Chronicles 34:13 were over the laborers and supervised all who did the work, task by task. Some of the Levites were secretaries, officers, and gatekeepers.
- Ezra 7:6 this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted Ezra all his requests, for the hand of the LORD his God was upon him.
- Nehemiah 8:1 At that time all the people gathered together in the square before the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel.
- Matthew 8:19 And one of the scribes came to Him and said, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”
- Matthew 13:52 Then He told them, “For this reason, every scribe who has been discipled in the kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
- Matthew 23:1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples: