Nehemiah 12–13

CHAPTER 12

Priests and Levites Come Up with Zerubbabel

¹Now these are ^athe priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

²Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,

³Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,

⁴Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah,

⁵Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,

⁶Shemaiah and Joiarib, Jedaiah,

⁷Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah. These were the heads of the priests and their ¹relatives in the days of Jeshua.

⁸The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah who was over of the songs of thanksgiving, he and his brothers.

⁹Also Bakbukiah and Unni, their brothers, stood opposite them ^ain keeping their responsibilities.

¹⁰Jeshua ¹became the father of Joiakim, and Joiakim became the father of Eliashib, and Eliashib became the father of Joiada,

¹¹and Joiada became the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan became the father of Jaddua.

¹²Now in the days of Joiakim, the priests, the heads of fathers’ households were: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;

¹³of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan;

¹⁴of ¹Malluchi, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph;

¹⁵of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai;

¹⁶of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam;

¹⁷of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai;

¹⁸of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan;

¹⁹of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi;

²⁰of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber;

²¹of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.

The Heads of the Levites

²²As for the Levites, in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan and Jaddua, the heads of fathers’ households were written down; the priests were also in the reign of Darius the Persian.

²³The sons of Levi, the heads of fathers’ households, were written down in the Book of the Chronicles up to the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib.

²⁴The heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers opposite them, ^ato praise and give thanks, by the commandment of David the man of God, ^bwatch by watch.

²⁵Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers keeping watch at ^athe storerooms of the gates.

²⁶These 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.

Dedication of the Wall

²⁷Now 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.

²⁸So the sons of the singers were gathered from the district around Jerusalem and from ^athe villages of the Netophathites,

²⁹from Beth-gilgal and from their fields in Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built themselves villages around Jerusalem.

³⁰The priests and the Levites ^acleansed themselves; they also cleansed the people, the gates, and the wall.

The Choirs in the House of God

³¹Then I had the leaders of Judah come up on top of the wall, and I had two great choirs of thanksgiving stand, ^1athe first proceeding to the right on top of the wall toward ^bthe Dung Gate.

³²Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah followed them,

³³with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam,

³⁴Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah,

³⁵and 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,

³⁶and his ¹relatives, 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.

³⁷At ^athe Spring 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.

^38aThe 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,

³⁹and 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 stood at ^ethe Gate of the Guard.

⁴⁰Then the two choirs took their stand in the house of God. So did I and half of the officials with me;

⁴¹and the priests: Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah and Hananiah, with the trumpets;

⁴²and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer.

And the singers made their voices heard, with Jezrahiah their overseer,

⁴³and on that day they offered great sacrifices and were glad because ^aGod had given them great gladness, even the women and children were glad, so that the gladness of Jerusalem was heard from afar.

⁴⁴On 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 was glad over the priests and Levites who stood to minister.

⁴⁵And they kept their responsibility given by their God and the responsibility of cleansing, together with the singers and the gatekeepers, ^aaccording to the commandment of David and his son Solomon.

⁴⁶For in the days of David and ^aAsaph, in ancient times, there were ^1bchiefs of the singers, songs of praise and hymns of thanksgiving to God.

⁴⁷So all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah were giving the portions due the singers and the gatekeepers ^aas each day required, and ^bset apart the holy portion for the Levites, and the Levites set apart the holy portion for the sons of Aaron.

CHAPTER 13

Foreigners Are Separated from Israel

¹On that day ^athey read 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,

²because 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.

³So when they heard the law, ^athey separated ^ball foreigners from Israel.

Tobiah’s Goods Removed from God’s House

⁴Now prior to this, Eliashib the priest, ^awho was put in charge over the chambers of the house of our God, being ¹related to ^bTobiah,

⁵had prepared a large ¹room for him, where formerly they put the grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils, and the tithes of grain, also new wine and oil ^acommanded for the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers, as well as the ²contributions for the priests.

⁶But 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,

⁷and I came to Jerusalem and discerned the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, ^aby preparing a chamber for him in the courts of the house of God.

⁸It was very evil to me, so I ^athrew all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the chamber.

⁹Then I said the word, and ^athey cleansed the chambers; and I returned there the utensils of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense.

Why Is the House of God Forsaken?

¹⁰I also came to know that ^athe portions of the Levites had not been given them, so the Levites and the singers who did the work had fled, ^beach to his own field.

¹¹So I ^acontended against the officials and said, “^bWhy is the house of God forsaken?” Then I gathered them together and had them stand in their posts.

¹²All Judah then brought ^athe tithe of the grain, new wine, and oil into the storehouses.

¹³In 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 counted as faithful, and it was ¹their task to apportion everything to their ²relatives.

^14aRemember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my lovingkindnesses which I have shown for the house of my God and its responsibilities.

Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

¹⁵In 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 testified against them on the day they sold food.

¹⁶Also men of Tyre were living ¹there who brought in fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the sabbath, even in Jerusalem.

¹⁷Then ^aI contended with the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing, even profaning the sabbath day?

¹⁸“^aDid not your fathers do the same, so our God brought on us and on this city all this calamity? Yet you are adding to His anger on Israel by profaning the sabbath.”

^19aNow it happened that just as it grew dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I said the word, and the doors were shut. Then I said that they should not open them until after the sabbath. Then I had some of my young men stand at the gates so that no load would enter on the sabbath day.

²⁰Once or twice the traders and merchants of every kind of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem.

²¹Then ^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 send forth my hand against you.” From that time on they did not come on the sabbath.

²²And I said to the Levites that ^athey should cleanse themselves and come as gatekeepers to keep the sabbath day holy. For this also ^bremember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness.

You Shall Not Marry Foreigners

²³In those days I also saw that the Jews had ^1amarried women from ^bAshdod, ^cAmmon, and Moab.

²⁴As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but only ¹the tongue of his own people.

²⁵So ^aI contended with them and cursed them and ^bstruck some of them and…