and said unto them, Ye are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, unto the place that I have prepared for it.
And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar; and thus were they divided: of the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen, heads of father's houses; and of the sons of Ithamar, according to their fathers' houses, eight.
The Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, were recorded heads of fathers' houses: also the priests, in the reign of Darius the Persian.