22. There was a total of two hundred and twelve guards, all of them listed in the family records in their towns. Their ancestors had been chosen by King David and by Samuel the prophet to be responsible for this work,
23. and now they guarded the temple gates.
24. There was one full-time guard appointed to each of the four sides of the temple.
25. Their assistants lived in the villages outside the city, and every seven days a group of them would come into the city and take their turn at guard duty.
26. The four full-time guards were Levites, and they supervised the other guards and were responsible for the rooms in the temple and the supplies kept there.
27. They guarded the temple day and night and opened its doors every morning.
28. Some of the Levites were responsible for the equipment used in worship at the temple, and they had to count everything before and after it was used.
29. Others were responsible for the temple furnishings and its sacred objects, as well as the flour, wine, olive oil, incense, and spices.
30. But only the priests could mix the spices.
31. Mattithiah, Shallum's eldest son, was a member of the Levite clan of Korah, and he was in charge of baking the bread used for offerings.
32. The Levites from the Kohath clan were in charge of baking the sacred loaves of bread for each Sabbath.