Priestly Courses - Mishmarot

The Priestly Courses

[Fragments listing the rotation of the twenty-four priestly courses through the weeks of the three-hundred-and-sixty-four-day year.]

These are the divisions of the priests for their service, twenty-four courses, each entering upon its week of duty in its appointed turn, from sabbath to sabbath, before the LORD according to the order given them by Aaron their father, as the LORD God of Israel commanded.

The courses in their order: Jehoiarib, Jedaiah, Harim, Seorim, Malchijah, Mijamin, Hakkoz, Abijah, Jeshua, Shecaniah, Eliashib, Jakim, Huppah, Jeshebeab, Bilgah, Immer, Hezir, Happizzez, Pethahiah, Jehezkel, Jachin, Gamul, Delaiah, and Maaziah. Each serves its week in turn; and when the four-and-twenty are complete, the rotation begins again.

Because the year is fifty-two weeks, and the courses are twenty-four, the rotation does not end with the year but carries over; so the tables reckon, year by year over a cycle of six years, which course serves in each week and upon each festival, that the service might be ordered and sure. [Text missing]

[The detailed tables of weeks and festivals follow in the fragments.]