1. David had become very old. So he made his son Solomon king over Israel.
2. He gathered together all of the leaders of Israel. He also gathered the priests and the Levites together.
3. The Levites who were 30 years old or more were counted. The total number of men was 38,000.
4. David said, "From them, 24,000 will direct the work of the Lord's temple. And 6,000 will be officials and judges.
5. Another 4,000 will guard the gates. And 4,000 will praise the Lord with the instruments of music I've provided for that purpose."
6. David separated the Levites into groups. He did it based on the sons of Levi. The sons were Gershon, Kohath and Merari.
7. Ladan and Shimei belonged to the family of Gershon.
8. The sons of Ladan were Jehiel, Zetham and Joel. Jehiel was the oldest son. The total number of sons was three.
9. The sons of Shimei were Shelomoth, Haziel and Haran. The total number of sons was three. They were the leaders of the families of Ladan.
10. The sons of Shimei were Jahath, Ziza, Jeush and Beriah. The total number of the sons of Shimei was four.
11. Jahath was the first son. Ziza was the second son. But Jeush and Beriah didn't have many sons. So they were counted as one family. They had only one task.