Now the children of Israel after their number, the heads of fathers' [houses] and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and their officers who served the king, in any matter of the divisions which came in and went out month by month throughout all the months of the year--of every division were twenty-four thousand.
These verses present the structure of David's military establishment, which consisted of a standing army of 288,000 men, rotated 24,000 at a time, month by month, under the commanders here mentioned.