So you are to appoint Aaron and his sons, and they will be responsible for their priesthood; ¹  but the unauthorized person ²  who comes near must be put to death.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Number all the firstborn males of the Israelites from a month old and upward, and take ¹  the number of their names.

But the king’s edict stood, despite the objections of ¹  Joab and the leaders of the army. So Joab and the leaders of the army left the king’s presence in order to muster the Israelite army.

Altogether the genealogical records of the clans of Issachar listed 87,000 warriors. ¹ 

They made disbursements to the priests listed in the genealogical records by their families, and to the Levites twenty years old and up, according to their duties as assigned to their divisions,

These are the leaders ¹  and those enrolled with them by genealogy who were coming up with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:

and some of the temple servants that David and his officials had established for the work of the Levites – 220 of them. They were all designated by name.

So I registered a complaint with the leaders, asking “Why is the temple of God neglected?” Then I gathered them and reassigned them to their positions. ¹ 

Nevertheless, do not rejoice that ¹  the spirits submit to you, but rejoice ²  that your names stand written ³  in heaven.”

And they were as follows: The descendants of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name individually.

From the descendants of Simeon: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males numbered of them ¹  twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name individually.

The king told Joab, the general in command of his army, “Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba and muster the army, so I may know the size of the army.”

They made disbursements to all the males three years old and up who were listed in the genealogical records – to all who would enter the Lord’s temple to serve on a daily basis and fulfill their duties as assigned to their divisions. ¹ 

As for the descendants of Aaron, the priests who lived in the outskirts of all their cities, ¹  men were assigned ²  to disburse portions to every male among the priests and to every Levite listed in the genealogical records.

I considered these things carefully ¹  and then registered a complaint with the wealthy ²  and the officials. I said to them, “Each one of you is seizing the collateral ³  from your own countrymen!” ⁴  Because of them I called for ⁵  a great public assembly.

The Lord says, “Enroll this man in the register as though he were childless. ¹  Enroll him as a man who will not enjoy success during his lifetime. For none of his sons will succeed in occupying the throne of David or ever succeed in ruling over Judah.”

Amaziah assembled the people of Judah ¹  and assigned them by families to the commanders of units of a thousand and the commanders of units of a hundred for all Judah and Benjamin. He counted those twenty years old and up and discovered there were 300,000 young men of fighting age ²  equipped with spears and shields. ³