1 Chronicles 24 in Hebrew & English

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Tenakh Study · Read 1 Chronicles in Hebrew and English, one chapter per page. Our Tenakh study meets every Wednesday at 7 pm (Central Time) on Zoom. Text us for the Zoom link. Our Messianic Jewish notes appear below each passage; tap Commentary above to hide them. The full commentary on this chapter is on our 1 Chronicles commentary page.

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Tenakh Study · 1 Chronicles 24:1–31

1 Chronicles, Chapter 24

דברי הימים א כד

The sons of Aharon, from the lines of El’azar and Itamar, are divided by lot into twenty-four courses before David, Tzadok and Achimelech, with the order of their service in the house of Hashem; the heads of the remaining families of Levi also cast lots.

24:1Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aharon (Aaron). The sons of Aharon; Nadav (Nadab), and Avihu (Abihu), El’azar (Eleazar), and Itamar (Ithamar).

אוְלִבְנֵ֥י אַהֲרֹ֖ן מַחְלְקוֹתָ֑ם בְּנֵ֣י אַהֲרֹ֔ן נָדָב֙ וַאֲבִיה֔וּא אֶלְעָזָ֖ר וְאִיתָמָֽר׃

24:2But Nadav and Avihu died before their father, and had no children: therefore El’azar and Itamar executed the priest’s office.

בוַיָּ֨מָת נָדָ֤ב וַאֲבִיהוּא֙ לִפְנֵ֣י אֲבִיהֶ֔ם וּבָנִ֖ים לֹא־הָי֣וּ לָהֶ֑ם וַֽיְכַהֲנ֔וּ אֶלְעָזָ֖ר וְאִיתָמָֽר׃

The priests divided by lot

24:3And David distributed them, both Tzadok (Zadok) of the sons of El’azar, and Achimelech (Ahimelech) of the sons of Itamar, according to their offices in their service.

גוַיֶּֽחָלְקֵ֣ם דָּוִ֔יד וְצָדוֹק֙ מִן־בְּנֵ֣י אֶלְעָזָ֔ר וַאֲחִימֶ֖לֶךְ מִן־בְּנֵ֣י אִיתָמָ֑ר לִפְקֻדָּתָ֖ם בַּעֲבֹדָתָֽם׃

24:4And there were more chief men found of the sons of El’azar than of the sons of Itamar; and thus were they divided. Among the sons of El’azar there were sixteen chief men of the house of their fathers, and eight among the sons of Itamar according to the house of their fathers.

דוַיִּמָּצְא֣וּ בְֽנֵי־אֶלְעָזָ֡ר רַבִּ֞ים לְרָאשֵׁ֧י הַגְּבָרִ֛ים מִן־בְּנֵ֥י אִיתָמָ֖ר וַֽיַּחְלְק֑וּם לִבְנֵ֨י אֶלְעָזָ֜ר רָאשִׁ֤ים לְבֵית־אָבוֹת֙ שִׁשָּׁ֣ה עָשָׂ֔ר וְלִבְנֵ֧י אִיתָמָ֛ר לְבֵ֥ית אֲבוֹתָ֖ם שְׁמוֹנָֽה׃

24:5Thus were they divided by lot, one sort with another; for the governors of the sanctuary, and governors of the house of God, were of the sons of El’azar, and of the sons of Itamar.

הוַיַּחְלְק֥וּם בְּגוֹרָל֖וֹת אֵ֣לֶּה עִם־אֵ֑לֶּה כִּי־הָי֤וּ שָֽׂרֵי־קֹ֨דֶשׁ֙ וְשָׂרֵ֣י הָאֱלֹהִ֔ים מִבְּנֵ֥י אֶלְעָזָ֖ר וּבִבְנֵ֥י אִיתָמָֽר׃

24:6And Shema’yah (Shemaiah) the son of Netan’el (Nethaneel) the scribe, one of the Levi’im (Levites), wrote them before the king, and the princes, and Tzadok the priest, and Achimelech the son of Evyatar (Abiathar), and before the chief of the fathers of the priests and Levi’im: one principal household being taken for El’azar, and one taken for Itamar.

ווַֽיִּכְתְּבֵ֡ם שְֽׁמַֽעְיָה֩ בֶן־נְתַנְאֵ֨ל הַסּוֹפֵ֜ר מִן־הַלֵּוִ֗י לִפְנֵ֨י הַמֶּ֤לֶךְ וְהַשָּׂרִים֙ וְצָד֣וֹק הַכֹּהֵ֗ן וַאֲחִימֶ֨לֶךְ֙ בֶּן־אֶבְיָתָ֔ר וְרָאשֵׁי֙ הָֽאָב֔וֹת לַכֹּהֲנִ֖ים וְלַלְוִיִּ֑ם בֵּֽית־אָ֣ב אֶחָ֗ד אָחֻז֙ לְאֶלְעָזָ֔ר וְאָחֻ֥ז ׀ אָחֻ֖ז לְאִיתָמָֽר׃

Commentary · 24:1–6

El’azar and Itamar, Tzadok and Achimelech

The chapter begins with a wound. Nadav and Avihu died on the day the Tabernacle was dedicated, when they brought “strange fire” (Leviticus 10:1–2). Every kohen who ever served descended from the two who were left; the service of the house is not to be improvised. Tzadok is of El’azar’s line through Pinchas (5:30–34). Achimelech son of Evyatar is of Itamar’s line, the house of Eli, already marked for removal (1 Samuel 2:30–36). Shlomo would depose Evyatar (1 Kings 2:27), and from then on the high priesthood was Tzadok’s. Ezekiel’s Temple keeps the altar for the sons of Tzadok (Ezekiel 44:15), and Yeshua’s priesthood “after the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4) stands beside Aharon’s, not in its place.

Why by lot? Both houses had produced leaders, and neither would accept being ranked below the other by a man’s decision. The lot, גּוֹרָל (goral), takes the choice out of human hands: “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of Hashem” (Proverbs 16:33).

The Talmud traces the courses through three stages: Moshe established eight, Shmuel sixteen, David twenty-four (Taanit 27a). Each course served a week, Shabbat to Shabbat, and beside it stood a ma’amad of ordinary Israelites who came up to pray by the daily offering. Shema’yah the scribe wrote it all down (24:6), and the returned exiles had to prove their lineage from such records (Ezra 2:62–63).

Twenty-four lots, and the eighth to Aviyah

Some of these names carry history. When the First Temple fell on the ninth of Av, it was “the watch of Yehoyariv,” the first lot, and the Levi’im were singing Psalm 94 (Taanit 29a). Centuries later Mattityahu, father of the Maccabees, came from the sons of Yehoyariv (1 Maccabees 2:1): the house on duty when the sanctuary burned cleansed it again at Chanukah.

The eighth lot fell to Aviyah. Luke’s Zecharyah was “a certain priest… of the course of” Aviyah (Luke 1:5). Only four priestly clans came back from Babylon (Ezra 2:36–39). The Talmud says the prophets of that generation redivided them into twenty-four courses with the old names (Taanit 27a), and Nehemiah lists Aviyah again (Nehemiah 12:4, 17). Zecharyah’s week came round because David cast lots a thousand years before. “His lot was to burn incense” (Luke 1:9), for the daily tasks too were assigned by lot (Mishnah Tamid 5:2).

Messianic reading. The message at the altar was about the end of days: Zecharyah’s son would go before the Lord “in the spirit and power of Eliyahu” (Luke 1:17; Malachi 4:5–6). Our Statement of Faith is careful here: Yochanan came in the spirit and power of Eliyahu, not as Eliyahu reincarnated, and said so himself (John 1:21). And in John’s vision “round about the throne were four and twenty seats” (Revelation 4:4); FFOZ’s End of Days suggests the twenty-four elders “represent all Israel before the throne of God” (Lesson 46, “Scroll with Seven Seals”).

The lot that makes small and great equal

This list takes the Kohathite houses of chapter 23 one generation further down. Shuva’el, Moshe’s grandson who “returned to God,” now has a son, Yechdeyahu. These are the men who will actually stand their weeks under Shlomo. The order is handed from fathers to sons, which is the only way an order survives.

Hebrew lesson: בְּנוֹ (beno), “his son.” The English gives Merari a descendant named “Beno” (24:26–27). The Hebrew word is almost certainly not a name; beno means “his son,” and the verse lists “the sons of Ya’aziyahu his son.” The translators made a man out of a pronoun. El’azar’s house, which continued through his daughters (23:22), is listed again beside Kish’s (24:28–29); the line held.

The Levi’im are placed by the same lot, before the same witnesses, as the kohanim, “even the principal fathers over against their younger brethren” (24:31): the head of a great house and the head of a small one drew on equal terms. The next chapter says it of the singers too, “as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar” (25:8). Yeshua told his disciples, “whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant” (Matthew 20:27); David’s lots built that principle into the Temple’s calendar.

Sources & method

Hebrew text: The Masoretic text with vowels (nikkud) and cantillation marks (ta’amim), from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (public domain) as published by the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (CC BY 4.0). Where the written text (ketiv) differs from the reading (qere), the reading is shown and the written form follows in small type. A paragraph mark (ס or פ) inside a verse is shown in small type.
English translation: The King James Version (public domain), lightly modernized by Benei Avraham: “thee/thou/ye” become “you,” older verb forms are updated (“hath” to “has”), and archaic words are replaced only where the meaning would otherwise be unclear. People and places carry their Hebrew names, with the King James spelling in parentheses the first time on each page (e.g., Yehudah (Judah)). The Divine Name (יהוה, “the LORD” in the KJV) is written “Hashem”; “God” (Elohim) is unchanged, and “law” is “Torah” where the Hebrew is תּוֹרָה.
Verse numbers: Verse numbers follow the Hebrew Bible. In 1 Chronicles they differ from most English Bibles in chapters 5, 6 and 12; a note under the summary on those pages explains how.
Commentary: Written for our Wednesday Tenakh study from a Messianic Jewish perspective, in line with the Benei Avraham Statement of Faith. It reads the passage first in its Torah setting, then with the Sages, and then with the witness of the Brit Hadashah. Its sources include the Talmud and Midrash, Rashi, Radak, Rambam, the First Fruits of Zion End of Days lessons, and teachings of Rabbi Efraim Palvanov and Ariel Cohen Alloro. Numerical readings (gematria) are offered as hints, not proofs. The notes here are short versions of our full 1 Chronicles commentary, which is a draft for our teachers to review. They are shown by default; tap Commentary to hide them.
Quiz: Written by Benei Avraham for young readers (about 11 and up). Every answer is in the chapter on this page. Answers and scores are kept only in this browser (local storage) and can be cleared with Start over.
Hebrew font: SBL Hebrew, by the Society of Biblical Literature.

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1 Chronicles 24 (Divrei HaYamim Alef) in Hebrew and English

1 Chronicles, Chapter 24

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Sources & method