Nehemiah 12:27-43

GOD’S WORD Translation

Jerusalem’s Walls Are Dedicated to God

²⁷ When the wall of Jerusalem was going to be dedicated, they went to wherever the Levites lived and had them come to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication joyfully with hymns of thanksgiving, with songs and cymbals, and with harps and lyres. ²⁸ So the groups of singers came together from the countryside around Jerusalem, from the villages of Netophah, ²⁹ from Beth Gilgal, and from the region of Geba and Azmaveth. The singers had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem. ³⁰ The priests and the Levites cleansed themselves. Then they cleansed the people, the gates, and the wall.

³¹ Then I had the leaders of Judah come up on the wall, and I arranged two large choirs to give thanks and march in procession. One choir went to the right on the wall to Dung Gate. ³² Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah followed them. ³³ Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴ Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah also followed. ³⁵ So did some priests with trumpets: Zechariah, who was the son of Jonathan, who was the son of Shemaiah, who was the son of Mattaniah, who was the son of Micaiah, who was the son of Zaccur, who was the son of Asaph. ³⁶ Also, these relatives of Zechariah followed: Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani with the musical instruments of David, the man of God. Ezra the scribe led them. ³⁷ At Fountain Gate they went straight up the stairs of the City of David. There the wall rises past David’s palace and reaches Water Gate on the east.

³⁸ The other choir went to the left. I followed them with the other half of the people. We walked on the wall, past the Tower of the Ovens, as far as Broad Wall, ³⁹ then past Ephraim Gate, over Old Gate and Fish Gate, and by the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as Sheep Gate. The choir stopped at Guard’s Gate. ⁴⁰ So both choirs stood in God’s temple, as did I and the half of the leaders who were with me. ⁴¹ Likewise, these priests stood in God’s temple: Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah with trumpets, ⁴² and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchiah, Elam, and Ezer. The singers sang under the direction of Jezrahiah.

⁴³ That day they offered many sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them reason to rejoice. The women and children rejoiced as well. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard from far away.