Nehemiah 12:1–13:31
Priests and Levites Who Returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel
1 Now these are athe priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,
6 Shemaiah and Joiarib, Jedaiah,
7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah and Jedaiah. These were the heads of the priests and their 1kinsmen in the days of Jeshua.
8 The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah who was 1in charge of the songs of thanksgiving, he and his brothers.
9 Also Bakbukiah and Unni, their brothers, stood opposite them ain their service divisions.
10 Jeshua 1became the father of Joiakim, and Joiakim 1became the father of Eliashib, and Eliashib 1became 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 1Malluchi, 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.
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, ato praise and give thanks, 1as prescribed by David the man of God, bdivision corresponding to division.
25 Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon and Akkub were gatekeepers keeping watch at athe 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 aNehemiah the governor and of Ezra the priest and scribe.
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 ato the accompaniment of cymbals, harps and lyres.
28 So the sons of the singers were assembled from the district around Jerusalem, and from athe 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 apurified themselves; they also purified the people, the gates and the wall.
31 Then I had the leaders of Judah come up on top of the wall, and I appointed two great 1choirs, 2athe first proceeding to the right on top of the wall toward bthe 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 1kinsmen, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah and Hanani, awith the musical instruments of David the man of God. And Ezra the scribe went before them.
37 At athe Fountain Gate they went directly up bthe steps of the city of David by the stairway of the wall above the house of David to cthe Water Gate on the east.
38 aThe second 1choir proceeded to the 2left, while I followed them with half of the people on the wall, babove the Tower of Furnaces, to cthe Broad Wall,
39 and above athe Gate of Ephraim, by bthe Old Gate, by the cFish Gate, dthe Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate; and they stopped at ethe 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 1sang, with Jezrahiah their leader,
43 and on that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because aGod 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 amen 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 1served.
45 For they performed the 1worship of their God and the service of purification, together with the singers and the gatekeepers ain accordance with the command of David and of his son Solomon.
46 For in the days of David and aAsaph, in ancient times, there were 1bleaders 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 aas each day required, and bset apart the consecrated portion for the Levites, and the Levites set apart the consecrated portion for the sons of Aaron.
1 On that day athey read aloud from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and there was found written in it that bno Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,
2 because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but ahired Balaam against them to curse them. However, bour God turned the curse into a blessing.
3 So when they heard the law, athey excluded ball foreigners from Israel.
Tobiah Expelled and the Temple Cleansed
4 Now prior to this, Eliashib the priest, awho was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being 1related to bTobiah,
5 had prepared a large 1room for him, where formerly they put the grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils and the tithes of grain, wine and oil aprescribed for the Levites, the singers and the gatekeepers, and the 2contributions for the priests.
6 But during all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in athe thirty-second year of bArtaxerxes king of Babylon I had gone to the king. After some time, however, I asked leave from the king,
7 and I came to Jerusalem and 1learned about the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, aby preparing a 2room for him in the courts of the house of God.
8 It was very displeasing to me, so I athrew all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.
9 Then I gave an order and athey cleansed the rooms; and I returned there the utensils of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense.
10 I also 1discovered that athe portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers who performed the service had 2gone away, beach to his own field.
11 So I 1areprimanded the officials and said, “bWhy is the house of God forsaken?” Then I gathered them together and restored them to their posts.
12 All Judah then brought athe tithe of the grain, wine and oil into the storehouses.
13 In charge of the storehouses I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and in addition to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for athey were considered reliable, and it was 1their task to distribute to their 2kinsmen.
14 aRemember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my loyal deeds which I have performed for the house of my God and its services.
15 In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses aon the sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, band they brought them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. So cI admonished them on the day they sold food.
16 Also men of Tyre were living 1there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the sabbath, even in Jerusalem.
17 Then aI 1reprimanded the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing, 2by profaning the sabbath day?
18 “aDid not your fathers do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the sabbath.”
19 aIt came about that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut 1and that they should not open them until after the sabbath. Then I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would enter on the sabbath day.
20 Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem.
21 Then aI 1warned them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will 2use force against you.” From that time on they did not come on the sabbath.
22 And I commanded the Levites that athey should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the sabbath day. For this also bremember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness.
23 In those days I also saw that the Jews had 1amarried women from bAshdod, cAmmon and Moab.
24 As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but 1the language of his own people.
25 So aI contended with them and cursed them and bstruck some of them and pulled out their hair, and cmade them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves