Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 9:31
A Levite named Mattithiah, the firstborn son of Shallum the Korahite, was entrusted with baking the bread.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Chronicler documents the post-exilic reorganization of temple personnel for the returned community. The narrative records the specific assignment of ritual duties to designated Levitical families.
The words — הַ/בְּכ֖וֹר (ha./be.Khor) translates to firstborn, and בֶּ/אֱמוּנָ֕ה (be./'e.mu.Nah) translates to faithfulness or trustworthiness. These terms specify the hereditary rank and reliability required for the assigned task.
The thread — The passage connects Mattithiah to the Korahite gatekeepers listed in 1 Chronicles 9:19 and the registered threshold guards in 1 Chronicles 9:22. The baking duty parallels the grain offerings prepared in Leviticus 2:5.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that sacred service functions through documented lineage and fixed assignment. It establishes that ritual responsibilities are distributed by institutional order rather than individual choice.
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 Mattithiah, one of the Levites, who was the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, had the set office over the things that were made in the pans.
Cross-references
- 1 Chronicles 9:19 Shallum son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his relatives from the Korahites were assigned to guard the thresholds of the Tent, just as their fathers had been assigned to guard the entrance to the dwelling of the LORD.
- 1 Chronicles 9:22 The number of those chosen to be gatekeepers at the thresholds was 212. They were registered by genealogy in their villages. David and Samuel the seer had appointed them to their positions of trust.
- Leviticus 2:5 If your offering is a grain offering prepared on a griddle, it must be unleavened bread made of fine flour mixed with oil.
- Leviticus 2:7 If your offering is a grain offering cooked in a pan, it must consist of fine flour with oil.
- Leviticus 6:21 It shall be prepared with oil on a griddle; you are to bring it well-kneaded and present it as a grain offering broken in pieces, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
- 1 Chronicles 9:17 These were the gatekeepers: Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their relatives. Shallum was their chief;
- 1 Chronicles 9:26 But the four chief gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted with the rooms and the treasuries of the house of God.