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.

^24 (A)These were the sons of Levi by their fathers' houses, the heads of fathers' houses ^(B)as they were listed according to the number of the names of the individuals from ^(C)twenty years old and upward who were to do the work for the service of the house of the Lord.

⁶ of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, with 220 of his brothers; ⁷ of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, with 130 of his brothers; ⁸ of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, with 200 of his brothers; ⁹ of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, with 80 of his brothers; ¹⁰ of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, with 112 of his brothers. ¹¹ Then David summoned the priests ^(A)Zadok and ^(B)Abiathar, and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab, ¹² and said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites. ^(C)Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(D)to the place that I have prepared for it.

¹¹ “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he ^(A)was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in ^(B)my jealousy. ¹² Therefore say, ^(C)‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, ¹³ and it shall be to him and to ^(D)his descendants after him the covenant of ^(E)a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’”