And to all the multitude, both to their wives, and to their children of both sexes, victuals were given faithfully out of the things that had been sanctified.

and to all their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, the whole congregation of those entered in the register; for in their trust they hallowed themselves to be holy.

and to the genealogy among all their infants, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters to all the congregation, for in their faithfulness they sanctify themselves in holiness.

And in the lists were all their little ones and their wives and their sons and daughters, through all the people: they made themselves holy in the positions which they were given.

even to give to them that were reckoned by genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, through all the congregation; for in their office of trust they administered the sacred gifts;

and for the entire multitude, as much for the wives as for their children of both sexes, provisions were offered faithfully from whatever had been sanctified.

And to the genealogy of all their little ones - Or, "And as to the list of all their little ones, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, it extended to the whole body, for they dealt with the holy things faithfully."

And to the genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, through all the congregation: for in their (l) set office they sanctified themselves in holiness:
(l) Meaning, that either by the faithful distribution of the officers, everyone had their part in the things that were offered, or else that their wives and children were relieved, because the Levites were faithful in their office, and so depended on them.

And to the genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, through all the congregation,.... These were all genealogized and registered, wives and children, sons and daughters, whether small or grown up; and a portion was distributed to them according to their number, greater or lesser:
for in their set office they sanctified themselves in holiness; which is to be understood either of the overseers, who, in their set office, faithfully distributed the holy things to the persons before described; or else to the priests, and Levites, to whom, and to whose families, the distribution was made, because they wholly devoted themselves to the holy service of God.

for in their set office they sanctified themselves--This is the reason assigned for providing for the wives and children out of the revenues of the sanctuary, that priests, withdrawing from those secular pursuits by which they might have maintained their households, devoted themselves entirely to the functions of the ministry.

The connection and interpretation of this verse is doubtful. If we take וּלחתיחשׂ as a continuation of ואת־התיהשׁ, 2-Chronicles 31:17, it gives us no suitable sense. The addition, "and also to every priest and Levite was a larger or smaller portion given according to the catalogue" (Ramb., etc.), is arbitrary, and does not fully express the בּ before כּל־טפּם. Berth., on the other hand, correctly remarks, "After the parentheses in 2-Chronicles 31:16 and 2-Chronicles 31:17, וּלחתיחשׂ may be taken as a continuation of לתת in 2-Chronicles 31:16;" but the word itself he translates wrongly thus: The men were in the priests' cities, also to register their children, etc., disregarding the construction of התיחשׂ with בּ. - From 2-Chronicles 31:19, where the same construction recurs, we learn how to interpret בּכל־ט התיחשׁ: the catalogue = those registered in (of) all their children. According to this view, ולהתיחשׂ corresponds to the לאחיהם, 2-Chronicles 31:15 : to give to their brethren, and to the registered of all their children, their wives, and their sons and daughters, viz., to the whole multitude (sc., of the wives, sons, and daughters), i.e., as many of them as there were. This interpretation of the לכל־קהל seems simpler than with Schmidt and Ramb. to understand קהל to denote the coroporation of priests. There was therefore no one forgotten or overlooked; "for according to their fidelity (2-Chronicles 31:15) did they show themselves holy in regard to the holy," i.e., they acted in a holy manner with the holy gifts, distributed them disinterestedly and impartially to all who had any claim to them.

For, &c. - This is alleged as a reason why their wives and children were provided for out of the holy things, because they sequestered themselves from worldly affairs, by which they might otherwise have provided for their families.