Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 29:12
Then the Levites set to work: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah from the Kohathites; Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel from the Merarites; Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah from the Gershonites;
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Hezekiah has just charged the Levites to stop being negligent in their temple duties (2 Chronicles 29:11). The narrative then shifts to the Levites rising to execute that charge.
The words — The verse begins with וַיָּקֻמוּ (va-yāqûmû), meaning "and they arose," and הַלְוִיִּם (ha-lĕwîṯîm), "the Levites," marking the transition from royal exhortation to physical action.
The thread — The three tribal groupings named here correspond to the ancestral lines recorded in Exodus 6:16 and Numbers 3:17.
Why it lands — The text demands the reader acknowledge that organized worship proceeds through named individuals responding to a direct call, not through vague institutional momentum.
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
Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites: and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehalelel: and of the Gershonites; Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah:
Cross-references
- Exodus 6:16 These were the names of the sons of Levi according to their records: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.
- Numbers 3:17 These were the sons of Levi by name: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
- Numbers 3:19 The sons of Kohath by their clans were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
- Numbers 4:2 “Take a census of the Kohathites among the Levites by their clans and families,
- 1 Chronicles 6:16 The sons of Levi: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.
- 1 Chronicles 6:44 On the left were their kinsmen, the sons of Merari: Ethan the son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluch,
- 1 Chronicles 15:5 From the Kohathites, Uriel the chief and 120 of his relatives;
- 1 Chronicles 23:7 The Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei.
- 2 Chronicles 31:13 Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers under the authority of Conaniah and his brother Shimei, by appointment of King Hezekiah and of Azariah the chief official of the house of God.