Eleazar

29And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old.

After all this, Joshua the son of Nun died. He had served the LORD his whole life. He was 110 years old.

30And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash.

They buried him on his own land at Timnath-serah. That is in the hill country of Ephraim. It is north of the hill called Gaash.

31And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel.

Israel served the LORD as long as Joshua lived. They served him as long as the older leaders lived who outlived Joshua. Those leaders had seen everything the LORD did for Israel.

32And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.

The people of Israel had carried Joseph's bones out of Egypt. They buried them at Shechem, in a piece of ground Jacob had bought. Jacob bought it from the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred pieces of silver. That land became the land of Joseph's family.

33And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim.

Eleazar, the son of Aaron, also died. They buried him on a hill in the country of Ephraim. That hill had been given to his son Phinehas.

1Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. The sons of Aaron; Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

Here are the groups of the men who came from Aaron. Aaron's sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

2But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children: therefore Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priest’s office.

Nadab and Abihu died before their father did. They had no sons. So Eleazar and Ithamar did the priests' work.

3And David distributed them, both Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, according to their offices in their service.

Zadok came from Eleazar's family. Ahimelech came from Ithamar's family. They helped King David sort the priests into groups by their jobs.

4And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar; and thus were they divided. Among the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen chief men of the house of their fathers, and eight among the sons of Ithamar according to the house of their fathers.

Eleazar's family had more leaders than Ithamar's family. So the groups were made to match. Eleazar's family had sixteen leaders. Ithamar's family had eight leaders.

5Thus were they divided by lot, one sort with another; for the governors of the sanctuary, and governors of the house of God, were of the sons of Eleazar, and of the sons of Ithamar.

They were split into groups by drawing lots, fairly for all. Both families had men who led the work at God's house.

6And Shemaiah the son of Nethaneel the scribe, one of the Levites, wrote them before the king, and the princes, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and before the chief of the fathers of the priests and Levites: one principal household being taken for Eleazar, and one taken for Ithamar.

Shemaiah was a writer. He was the son of Nethaneel, and he was a Levite. He wrote down all the names. The king watched, and so did the leaders. Zadok the priest watched. So did Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar. The family heads of the priests and Levites watched too. One family was picked from Eleazar, then one from Ithamar, back and forth.