Nehemiah 11-12

New American Standard Bible 1995

Time Passes; Heads of Provinces

11 Now ^(A)the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, but the rest of the people ^(B)cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem, ^(C)the holy city, while nine-tenths remained in the other cities. ² And the people blessed all the men who ^(D)volunteered to live in Jerusalem.

^3 (E)Now these are the heads of the provinces who lived in Jerusalem, but in the cities of Judah ^(F)each lived on his own property in their cities—the ^[a]Israelites, the priests, the Levites, the ^[b](G)temple servants and the ^[c](H)descendants of Solomon’s servants. ⁴ Some of the sons of Judah and some of the sons of Benjamin lived in Jerusalem. From the sons of Judah: Athaiah the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, of the sons of Perez; ⁵ and Maaseiah the son of Baruch, the son of Col-hozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of the Shilonite. ⁶ All the sons of Perez who lived in Jerusalem were 468 able men.

⁷ Now these are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah; ⁸ and after him Gabbai and Sallai, 928. ⁹ Joel the son of Zichri was their overseer, and Judah the son of Hassenuah was second ^[d]in command of the city.

¹⁰ From the priests: Jedaiah the son of Joiarib, Jachin, ¹¹ Seraiah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the leader of the house of God, ¹² and their ^[e]kinsmen who performed the work of the ^[f]temple, 822; and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah, ¹³ and his kinsmen, heads of fathers’ households, 242; and Amashsai the son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer, ¹⁴ and their brothers, valiant warriors, 128. And their overseer was Zabdiel, the son of ^[g]Haggedolim.

¹⁵ Now from the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni; ¹⁶ and Shabbethai and Jozabad, from the ^[h]leaders of the Levites, who were ^[i]in charge of ^(I)the outside work of the house of God; ¹⁷ and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of ^[j]Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who was the ^[k]leader in beginning the thanksgiving at prayer, and Bakbukiah, the second among his brethren; and ^[l]Abda the son of ^[m]Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun. ¹⁸ All the Levites in ^(J)the holy city were 284.

¹⁹ Also the gatekeepers, Akkub, Talmon and their brethren who kept watch at the gates, were 172.

Outside Jerusalem

²⁰ The rest of Israel, of the priests and of the Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, each ^(K)on his own inheritance. ²¹ But ^(L)the temple servants were living in Ophel, and Ziha and Gishpa were ^[n]in charge of the temple servants.

²² Now ^(M)the overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica, from the sons of Asaph, who were the singers for the ^[o]service of the house of God. ^23 (N)For there was a commandment from the king concerning them and a firm regulation for the song leaders ^(O)day by day. ²⁴ Pethahiah the son of Meshezabel, of the sons ^(P)of Zerah the son of Judah, was the ^(Q)king’s ^[p]representative in all matters concerning the people.

²⁵ Now as for the villages with their fields, some of the sons of Judah lived in ^(R)Kiriath-arba and its ^[q]towns, in ^(S)Dibon and its ^[r]towns, and in Jekabzeel and its villages, ²⁶ and in Jeshua, in Moladah and Beth-pelet, ²⁷ and in Hazar-shual, in Beersheba and its towns, ²⁸ and in Ziklag, in Meconah and in its towns, ²⁹ and in En-rimmon, in Zorah and in Jarmuth, ³⁰ Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and its fields, Azekah and its towns. So they encamped from Beersheba as far as the valley of Hinnom. ³¹ The sons of Benjamin also lived from Geba onward, at Michmash and Aija, at Bethel and its towns, ³² at Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah, ³³ Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim, ³⁴ Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat, ³⁵ Lod and Ono, the valley of craftsmen. ³⁶ From the Levites, some divisions in Judah belonged to Benjamin.

Priests and Levites Who Returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel

12 Now these are ^(T)the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, ² Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, ³ Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, ⁴ Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, ⁵ Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, ⁶ Shemaiah and Joiarib, Jedaiah, ⁷ Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah and Jedaiah. These were the heads of the priests and their ^[s]kinsmen in the days of Jeshua.

⁸ The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah who was ^[t]in charge of the songs of thanksgiving, he and his brothers. ⁹ Also Bakbukiah and Unni, their brothers, stood opposite them ^(U)in their service divisions. ¹⁰ Jeshua ^[u]became the father of Joiakim, and Joiakim ^[v]became the father of Eliashib, and Eliashib ^[w]became the father of Joiada, ¹¹ and Joiada became the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan became the father of Jaddua.

¹² Now in the days of Joiakim, the priests, the heads of fathers’ households were: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah; ¹³ of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan; ¹⁴ of ^[x]Malluchi, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph; ¹⁵ of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai; ¹⁶ of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam; ¹⁷ of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai; ¹⁸ of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan; ¹⁹ of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi; ²⁰ of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber; ²¹ of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.

The Chief Levites

²² As for the Levites, the heads of fathers’ households were registered in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan and Jaddua; so were the priests in the reign of Darius the Persian. ²³ The sons of Levi, the heads of fathers’ households, were registered in the Book of the Chronicles up to the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib. ²⁴ The heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers opposite them, ^(V)to praise and give thanks, ^[y]as prescribed by David the man of God, ^(W)division corresponding to division. ²⁵ Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon and Akkub were gatekeepers keeping watch at ^(X)the storehouses of the gates. ²⁶ These served in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of ^(Y)Nehemiah the governor and of Ezra the priest and scribe.

Dedication of the Wall

²⁷ Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites from all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem so that they might celebrate the dedication with gladness, with hymns of thanksgiving and with songs ^(Z)to the accompaniment of cymbals, harps and lyres. ²⁸ So the sons of the singers were assembled from the district around Jerusalem, and from ^(AA)the villages of the Netophathites, ²⁹ from Beth-gilgal and from their fields in Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built themselves villages around Jerusalem. ³⁰ The priests and the Levites ^(AB)purified themselves; they also purified the people, the gates and the wall.

Procedures for the Temple

³¹ Then I had the leaders of Judah come up on top of the wall, and I appointed two great ^[z]choirs, ^[aa](AC)the first proceeding to the right on top of the wall toward ^(AD)the Refuse Gate. ³² Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah followed them, ³³ with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴ Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah, ³⁵ and some of the sons of the priests with trumpets; and Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph, ³⁶ and his ^[ab]kinsmen, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah and Hanani, ^(AE)with the musical instruments of David the man of God. And Ezra the scribe went before them. ³⁷ At ^(AF)the Fountain Gate they went directly up ^(AG)the steps of the city of David by the stairway of the wall above the house of David to ^(AH)the Water Gate on the east.

^38 (AI)The second ^[ac]choir proceeded to the ^[ad]left, while I followed them with half of the people on the wall, ^(AJ)above the Tower of Furnaces, to ^(AK)the Broad Wall, ³⁹ and above ^(AL)the Gate of Ephraim, by ^(AM)the Old Gate, by the ^(AN)Fish Gate, ^(AO)the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate; and they stopped at ^(AP)the Gate of the Guard. ⁴⁰ Then the two choirs took their stand in the house of God. So did I and half of the officials with me; ⁴¹ and the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah and Hananiah, with the trumpets; ⁴² and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam and Ezer. And the singers ^[ae]sang, with Jezrahiah their leader, ⁴³ and on that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because ^(AQ)God had given them great joy, even the women and children rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar.

⁴⁴ On that day ^(AR)men were also appointed over the chambers for the stores, the contributions, the first fruits and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions required by the law for the priests and Levites; for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who ^[af]served. ⁴⁵ For they performed the ^[ag]worship of their God and the service of purification, together with the singers and the gatekeepers ^(AS)in accordance with the command of David and of his son Solomon. ⁴⁶ For in the days of David and ^(AT)Asaph, in ancient times, there were ^[ah](AU)leaders of the singers, songs of praise and hymns of thanksgiving to God. ⁴⁷ So all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah gave the portions due the singers and the gatekeepers ^(AV)as each day required, and ^(AW)set apart the consecrated portion for the Levites, and the Levites set apart the consecrated portion for the sons of Aaron.