the LORD with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith. 6And David divided them into [1]courses according to the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 7Of the Gershonites; [2]Ladan and Shimei. 8The sons of Ladan; Jehiel the chief, and Zetham, and Joel, three. 9The sons of Shimei; Shelomoth, and Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers' houses of Ladan. 10And the sons of Shimei; Jahath, [3]Zina, and Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei. 11And Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second: but Jeush and Beriah had not many sons; therefore they became a fathers' house in one reckoning. 12The sons of Kohath; Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four. 13The sons of Amram; Aaron and Moses: and Aaron was separated,
four thousand praised the LORD] Cp. xxv. 1-31, which tells of a picked choir consisting of 288 persons, divided into twenty-four courses, whose special duty was psalmody.
the instruments which I made] Cp. 2 Chr. xxix. 26.
6-23. It is natural to expect that twenty-four heads of fathers' houses will appear in this list (cp. note on ver. 4), in harmony with the twenty-four courses of priests, of musicians, and of doorkeepers referred to in the chapters following. The present text, however, appears to yield but twenty-two, and the various emendations suggested in order to obtain twenty-four are all precarious. The best suggestion is that of Curtis, for which see note on ver. 22.
6. the sons of Levi] Cp. vi. 1, 16.
7. Ladan and Shimei] For "Ladan" here and in xxvi. 21 we have in vi. 17 and Ex. vi. 17 "Libni."
9. The sons of Shimei] This Shimei in distinction from the Shimei of vv. 7, 10 might conceivably be a descendant of Ladan, although the relationship is not indicated; but it is more probable that some confusion has come into the text of vv. 8, 9, 10—as e.g. that ver. 9 b "These were . . . of Ladan" is a gloss, and that for Shimei in ver. 10 we should read Shelomoth.
10. Zina] Better, as in ver. 11, Zizah; the two words are readily confused in Hebrew writing.
12. The sons of Kohath] Cp. vi. 2; Ex. vi. 18.
13. separated] i.e. set apart, sometimes with the additional meaning of making a distinction between sacred and common. Cp. Rom. i. 1, where St Paul describes himself as separated unto the gospel of God; Acts xiii. 2; Gal. i. 15.
