1 Chronicles 23:3, 24, 27
Levites from thirty, or from twenty?
Within one chapter, 23:3 counts Levites from thirty years old and 23:24, 27 from twenty. Numbers 4:3 says thirty and Numbers 8:24 twenty-five; Ezra 3:8 twenty. The library's Greek reads "thirty" in 23:24.
Read 1 Chronicles 23:3, 24, 27 in every edition
Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording
The family tree
Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.
✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives
- Same line, through lost copies
- Translation
Every witness, in order
Torah; Ezra
Numbers 4:3; 8:24; Ezra 3:8 (parallel account, Masoretic Text)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex, quoted here in English.
From thirty years old (Numbers 4:3)… from twenty and five (Numbers 8:24)… from twenty years old (Ezra 3:8)
Composed c. 4th century BC (debated)
Original Chronicles
No original survives; no certain Qumran copy of 1 Chronicles.
Translated c. 2nd century BC
Septuagint, 1 Paraleipomena (library text: Giguet's French)
How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.
de trente ans (23:3)… âgés de trente ans et au-dessus (23:24)
The library's Greek has thirty in both places. One Greek text (Vaticanus type) via Giguet's French; not checked against a critical Greek edition.
c. AD 400
Jerome's Vulgate
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).
a triginta annis (23:3)… a viginti annis (23:24)
AD 1008
Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.
מִבֶּן שְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה (23:3)… מִבֶּן עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה (23:24)
from thirty years (23:3)… from twenty years (23:24)
1611
King James Bible
How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).
from the age of thirty years (23:3)… from the age of twenty years (23:24)
What changed, and why
23:27 explains: "by the last words of David" the age was lowered. Scholars see the Chronicler reconciling earlier rules with the practice of his own day (Ezra 3:8). The Greek's "thirty" may harmonize.
What the evidence shows
- The Hebrew gives two starting ages in one chapter.
- The library's Greek reads thirty in 23:24.
Sources
- E. Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 3rd ed. (2012)
Related lessons
- The Levites Counted and Reassigned →Old and full of days, David makes Solomon king and counts the Levites from thirty years old: 38,000. He assigns 24,000 to oversee the temple's work, 6,000 as officers and judges, 4,000 as gatekeepers and 4,000 as musicians. Since the tabernacle no longer needs carrying, the Levites now serve the priests in the temple, from twenty years old.
- Investigation: Hebrew, Greek, Samuel and Chronicles →When Chronicles and Samuel differ, three different things may be happening: the Chronicler used a different form of Samuel; he changed his source deliberately; or one of the books was miscopied later. A fourth layer comes from translation. This lesson sorts the main 1 Chronicles differences.