Nehemiah 12:27–40

Dedication of the Wall of Jerusalem

²⁷At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites from all of their places in order to bring them to Jerusalem to do the dedication with joy, thanksgivings, song and cymbals, stringed instruments and lyres. ²⁸The singers^e were gathered from the circuit all around Jerusalem and from the villages of Netophathite, ²⁹from Beth Gilgal, from the field of Geba and Azmaveth; for the singers built for themselves villages all around Jerusalem. ³⁰And the priests and the Levites purified themselves and purified the people, the gates, and the wall.

³¹Then I brought the commanders of Judah up on to the wall. I appointed two great choirs; one went in a procession to the right on the wall to the Dung Gate. ³²After them went Hoshaiah, half of the commanders of Judah, ³³Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah, ³⁵and the priests^f with trumpets; Zechariah son of Jehonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph; ³⁶and his brothers Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani with the instruments of the songs of David the man of God; and Ezra the scribe went before them. ³⁷At the Fountain Gate opposite them they went up the steps of the city of David, at the assent to the wall, over the house of David, and up to the Water Gate to the east.

³⁸Then the second choir went the opposite way. I followed after them with half of the people on the wall, from over the Tower of the Ovens up to the Wide Wall ³⁹and over the Gate of Ephraim, at the Old Gate, at the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, and to the Sheep Gate. And they stopped and stood at the Gate of the Guard. ⁴⁰So the two choirs stood in the house of God, and I and half of the prefects with me;