The Transfiguration

28 ^dNow about eight days after these sayings he took with him ^ePeter and John and James and ^fwent up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was ^galtered, and ^hhis clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure,¹ which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and those who were with him ⁱwere heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake ^jthey saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three ^ktents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—^lnot knowing what he said. 34 As he was saying these things, ^ma cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 And ^ma voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, ⁿmy Chosen One;^{2 o}listen to him!” 36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. ^pAnd they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

Greeting

1 Paul, ^aSilvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the ^bThessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

^cGrace to you and peace.

The Thessalonians’ Faith and Example

2 ^dWe give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly^{1 e}mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before ^four God and Father ^gyour work of faith and labor of ^hlove and ⁱsteadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, ^jbrothers² loved by God, ^kthat he has chosen you, 5 because ^lour gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and ^min the Holy Spirit and with full ⁿconviction. You know ^owhat kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And ^pyou became imitators of us ^qand of the Lord, for ^ryou received the word in much affliction, ^swith the ^tjoy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord ^usounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth ^veverywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of ^wreception we had among you, and how ^xyou turned to God ^yfrom idols to serve the living and ^ztrue God, 10 and ^ato wait for his Son ^bfrom heaven, ^cwhom he raised from the dead, Jesus ^dwho delivers us from ^ethe wrath to come.

Your Name, O Lord, Endures Forever

David Organizes the Levites

1 ^qWhen David was old and full of days, ^rhe made Solomon his son king over Israel.

2 David¹ assembled all the leaders of Israel and the priests and the Levites. 3 The Levites, ^sthirty years old and upward, were numbered, and ^tthe total was ^u38,000 men. 4 “Twenty-four thousand of these,” David said,^{2 v}“shall have charge of the work in the house of the Lord, 6,000 shall be ^wofficers and judges, 5 4,000 gatekeepers, and 4,000 shall offer praises to the Lord with the instruments ^xthat I have made for praise.” 6 ^yAnd David organized them in divisions ^zcorresponding to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

7 ^aThe sons of Gershon³ were Ladan and Shimei. 8 The sons of Ladan: ^bJehiel the chief, and Zetham, and Joel, three. 9 The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers’ houses of Ladan. 10 And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, and Jeush and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei. 11 Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second; but Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, therefore they became counted as a single father’s house.

12 ^cThe sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four. 13 ^dThe sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. ^eAaron was set apart to dedicate the most holy things, that he and his sons forever should ^fmake offerings before the Lord and ^gminister to him and ^hpronounce blessings in his name forever. 14 But the sons of Moses the ⁱman of God were named among the ^jtribe of Levi. 15 The ^ksons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. 16 The sons of Gershom: ^lShebuel the chief. 17 The sons of Eliezer: Rehabiah the chief. Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. 18 The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the chief. 19 The ^msons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. 20 ⁿThe sons of Uzziel: Micah the chief and Isshiah the second.

21 ^oThe sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and ^pKish. 22 Eleazar died ^qhaving no sons, but only daughters; their ^rkinsmen, the sons of Kish, married them. 23 ^sThe sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth, three.

24 ^tThese were the sons of Levi by their fathers’ houses, the heads of fathers’ houses ^uas they were listed according to the number of the names of the individuals from ^vtwenty years old and upward who were to do the work for the service of the house of the Lord. 25 For David said, “The Lord, the God of Israel, ^whas given rest to his people, and he dwells in Jerusalem forever. 26 And so the Levites no longer need ^xto carry the tabernacle or any of the things for its service.” 27 For by the last words of David the sons of Levi were numbered from ^vtwenty years old and upward. 28 For their duty was to assist the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of the Lord, having the care of the courts and the chambers, the cleansing of all that is holy, and any work for the service of the house of God. 29 Their duty was also to assist with the ^yshowbread, the ^zflour for the grain offering, the wafers of unleavened bread, the ^abaked offering, the ^boffering mixed with oil, and all ^cmeasures of quantity or size. 30 And they were to stand every morning, thanking and praising the Lord, and likewise at evening, 31 and whenever burnt offerings were offered to the Lord ^don Sabbaths, ^enew moons, and feast days, ^faccording to the number required of them, regularly before the Lord. 32 Thus ^gthey were to keep charge of the tent of meeting and the sanctuary, and to attend the sons of Aaron, their brothers, for the ^hservice of the house of the Lord.

David Organizes the Priests

1 The divisions of the sons of Aaron were these. The sons of ⁱAaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 2 ^jBut Nadab and Abihu died before their father and had no children, so Eleazar and Ithamar became the priests. 3 With the help of ^kZadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, David organized them according to the appointed duties in their service. 4 Since more chief men were found among the sons of Eleazar than among the sons of Ithamar, they organized them under sixteen heads of fathers’ houses of the sons of Eleazar, and eight of the sons of Ithamar. 5 They divided them ^lby lot, all alike, for there were sacred officers and officers of God among both the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar. 6 And the scribe Shemaiah, the son of Nethanel, a Levite, recorded them in the presence of the king and the princes and Zadok the priest and ^mAhimelech the son of Abiathar and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and of the Levites, one father’s house being chosen for Eleazar and one chosen for Ithamar.

7 The first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, 8 the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, 9 the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin, 10 the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to ⁿAbijah, 11 the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah, 12 the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, 13 the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab, 14 the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer, 15 the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez, 16 the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezkel, 17 the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul, 18 the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah. 19 These had as their appointed duty in their service ^oto come into the house of the Lord according to the procedure established for them by Aaron their father, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him.

20 And of the rest of the sons of Levi: ^pof the sons of Amram, Shubael; of the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah. 21 ^qOf Rehabiah: of the sons of Rehabiah, Isshiah the chief. 22 Of the Izharites, Shelomoth; of the sons of Shelomoth, Jahath. 23 ^rThe sons of Hebron:⁴ Jeriah the chief,⁵ Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth. 24 ^sThe sons of Uzziel, Micah; of the sons of Micah, Shamir. 25 The brother of Micah, Isshiah; of the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah. 26 ^tThe sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Jaaziah: Beno.⁶ 27 The sons of Merari: of Jaaziah, Beno, Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri. 28 Of Mahli: Eleazar, ^uwho had no sons. 29 Of Kish, the sons of Kish: Jerahmeel. 30 ^vThe sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites according to their fathers’ houses. 31 These also, the head of each father’s house and his younger brother alike, ^wcast lots, just as their brothers the sons of Aaron, in the presence of King David, ^xZadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of fathers’ houses of the priests and of the Levites.

David Organizes the Musicians

1 David and the chiefs of the service also set apart for the service the sons of ^yAsaph, and of ^zHeman, and of ^aJeduthun, who ^bprophesied with lyres, with ^charps, and with cymbals. The list of those who did the work and of their duties was: 2 Of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah, sons of Asaph, under the direction of Asaph, who ^bprophesied under the direction of the king. 3 Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei,⁷ Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun, ^bwho prophesied with the lyre in thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. 4 Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth. 5 All these were the sons of Heman ^dthe king’s seer, according to the promise of God to exalt him, for God had given Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. 6 They were all under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the Lord with cymbals, ^charps, and lyres for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order of the king. 7 The number of them along with their brothers, who were trained in singing to the Lord, all who were skillful, was ^e288. 8 And they cast lots for their duties, ^fsmall and great, teacher and pupil alike.

9 The first lot fell for Asaph to Joseph; the second to Gedaliah, to him and his brothers and his sons, twelve; 10 the third to Zaccur, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 11 the fourth to Izri, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 12 the fifth to Nethaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 13 the sixth to Bukkiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 14 the seventh to Jesharelah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 15 the eighth to Jeshaiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 16 the ninth to Mattaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 17 the tenth to Shimei, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 18 the eleventh to Azarel, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 19 the twelfth to Hashabiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 20 to the thirteenth, Shubael, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 21 to the fourteenth, Mattithiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 22 to the fifteenth, to Jeremoth, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 23 to the sixteenth, to Hananiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 24 to the seventeenth, to Joshbekashah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 25 to the eighteenth, to Hanani, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 26 to the nineteenth, to Mallothi, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 27 to the twentieth, to Eliathah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 28 to the twenty-first, to Hothir, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 29 to the twenty-second, to Giddalti, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 30 to the twenty-third, to Mahazioth, his sons and his brothers, twelve; 31 to the twenty-fourth, to Romamti-ezer, his sons and his brothers, twelve.