16. Obadiah, son of Shemaiah, son of Galal, a descendant of Jeduthun; and Berechiah, son of Asa, son of Elkanah, whose family lived in the villages of the Netophathites.
17. The gatekeepers were Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their brothers; Shallum was the chief.
18. Previously they had stood guard at the king’s gate on the east side; now they became gatekeepers for the encampments of the Levites.
19. Shallum, son of Kore, son of Ebiasaph, a descendant of Korah, and his brothers of the same ancestral house of the Korahites had as their assigned task the guarding of the threshold of the tent, just as their fathers had guarded the entrance to the encampment of the Lord.
20. Phinehas, son of Eleazar, had been their chief in times past; the Lord was with him.
21. Zechariah, son of Meshelemiah, guarded the gate of the tent of meeting.
22. In all, those who were chosen for gatekeepers at the threshold were two hundred and twelve. They were inscribed in the family records of their villages. David and Samuel the seer had established them in their position of trust.
23. Thus they and their sons kept guard over the gates of the house of the Lord, the house which was then a tent.
24. The gatekeepers were stationed at the four sides, to the east, the west, the north, and the south.
25. Their brothers who lived in their own villages took turns in assisting them for seven-day periods,