Search the encyclopedia

Search the Bible

1000 articles found for “the Levites”

• 1 Chronicles 23

  [Bible]

  1 Chronicles 23 records how the aged David made Solomon king and numbered the Levites for service in the temple, dividing them into courses by the families of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari and assigning their duties.

• Heman

  [People]

  Heman is an Old Testament figure who appears in 1 and 2 Chronicles as a Levite worship leader in charge of temple music in the time of David. The same name also appears in the title of Psalm 88 and in 1 Kings 4.

• Zuriel

  [People]

  Zuriel is a Levite mentioned once in the Book of Numbers. The son of Abihail, he was the chief of the Merarite families during the wilderness period. The descendants of Merari camped on the north side of the tabernacle.

• Deuteronomy 27

  [Bible]

  Deuteronomy 27 records Moses' instructions that, after entering Canaan, Israel is to set up on Mount Ebal stones inscribed with the law, together with an altar. It then directs six tribes to stand on Mount Gerizim and six on Mount Ebal, and commands the people to answer "Amen" to each of twelve curses proclaimed by the Levites.

• 1 Chronicles 16

  [Bible]

  1 Chronicles 16 records the day David placed the ark of the covenant in the tent he had pitched for it, offered sacrifices, and blessed the people. The chapter also contains the Levites' song of thanksgiving and the assignment of worship personnel to two sites, Jerusalem and Gibeon.

• Nehemiah 9

  [Bible]

  Nehemiah 9 records how the Israelites who had returned from exile fasted and confessed their sins. The Levites offer a long prayer recounting Israel's history from creation to the exile, and at the end the people make a covenant and seal it.

• Mishael (son of Uzziel)

  [People]

  Mishael was a son of Uzziel, a Kohathite of the tribe of Levi, and a cousin of Moses and Aaron. When Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu died, he and his brother Elzaphan carried their bodies out of the camp.

• Ithamar

  [People]

  Ithamar was the fourth son of Aaron and served as a priest with his brother Eleazar during the wilderness period. When the tabernacle was transported, he supervised the work of the Gershonites and the Merarites.

• Numbers 26

  [Bible]

  Numbers 26 records the second census of Israel, taken on the plains of Moab after the plague at Baal-peor. It gives the totals by tribe (601,730 in all), the principles for dividing the land, and the census of the Levites, and it notes that of the wilderness generation only Caleb and Joshua remained.

• 2 Chronicles 5

  [Bible]

  This chapter records how Solomon brought the Ark of the Covenant into the Most Holy Place of the completed temple, and how the cloud of the LORD's glory filled the temple as the Levites and priests praised God together.

• Nehemiah 8:10

  [Bible Verses]

  Nehemiah 8:10 is an exhortation to the people who had returned from exile and were weeping as they heard the Law read. They are told not to grieve on the holy day but to eat together and share with others. The verse is widely quoted for the phrase "the joy of the LORD is your strength."

• Ezekiel 44

  [Bible]

  Ezekiel 44 is part of the vision of the new temple. It contains the command to keep shut the outer east gate through which the LORD entered, along with the duties and ordinances of the Levites and of the priests descended from Zadok who are to serve in the temple.

• Jeriah

  [People]

  Jeriah was a chief of the Hebronite clan of the tribe of Levi in the time of David. At David's command he led a family that oversaw the work of God and the affairs of the king among the tribes east of the Jordan.

• Gibbethon

  [Bible]

  Gibbethon was an Old Testament town in the territory of the tribe of Dan and a Levitical city, but by the period recounted in the books of Kings it belonged to the Philistines. King Nadab of Israel was assassinated while besieging it, and Omri was proclaimed king in the camp there.

• Shelomoth

  [People]

  Shelomoth was a Levite of David's time and a descendant of Eliezer, the son of Moses. With his brothers, he was in charge of the treasuries of the dedicated things that David and the military commanders had set apart (1 Chronicles 26).

• Joiada (Son of Eliashib)

  [People]

  Joiada was a high priest in Jerusalem during the Persian period after the return from exile. He was the son and successor of the high priest Eliashib. One of his sons became the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite and was driven out by Nehemiah (Nehemiah 13:28).

• Nehemiah 8

  [Bible]

  Nehemiah 8 records how, on the first day of the seventh month, Ezra read the book of the law in the square before the Water Gate in Jerusalem while the Levites explained its meaning, and how the people then kept the Feast of Tabernacles.

• Kadmiel

  [People]

  Kadmiel is a Levitical family, or the head of that family, among the Levites who returned from the Babylonian exile. The name appears in Ezra and Nehemiah, which record Kadmiel's part in overseeing the rebuilding of the temple, in the prayer of repentance in Nehemiah 9, and in sealing the covenant.

• Libni

  [People]

  Libni was an Old Testament figure, a grandson of Levi and the firstborn son of Gershon, who became the ancestor of the Libnite family among the Levites.

• Portion

  [Bible]

  A portion is a share that is divided and received, such as an inheritance or an allotment of land. In the Old Testament the term is used for the tribes' allotments of land and in the confession of faith "the LORD is my portion"; in the New Testament it appears in the parable of the prodigal son.