The musicians and Levite family leaders stayed in rooms at the sanctuary ¹  and were exempt from other duties, for day and night they had to carry out their assigned tasks.

So we worked on, ¹  with half ²  holding spears, from dawn till dusk. ³ 

besides 3,300 ¹  officials who supervised the workers. ² 

These men were also in charge of Solomon’s work projects; there were a total of 550 men who supervised the workers. ¹ 

who were rebuilding the wall. ¹  Those who were carrying loads did so ²  by keeping one hand on the work and the other on their weapon.

The men worked faithfully. Their supervisors were Jahath and Obadiah (Levites descended from Merari), as well as Zechariah and Meshullam (descendants of Kohath). The Levites, all of whom were skilled musicians,

From that day forward, half of my men were doing the work and half of them were taking up spears, ¹  shields, bows, and body armor. Now the officers were behind all the people ²  of Judah