Nehemiah 7–8

7After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers, singers, and Levites were chosen. ²I put my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah, the commander of the palace, in charge of Jerusalem. Hananiah was honest and feared God more than most people. ³I said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem should not be opened until the sun is hot. While the gatekeepers are still on duty, have them shut and bolt the doors. Appoint people who live in Jerusalem as guards, and put some at guard posts and some near their own houses.”

The Captives Who Returned

⁴The city was large and roomy, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt. ⁵Then my God caused me to gather the important people, the leaders, and the common people so I could register them by families. I found the family history of those who had returned first. This is what I found written there:

⁶These are the people of the area who returned from captivity, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken away. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each going back to his own town. ⁷These people returned with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah.

These are the people from Israel: ⁸the descendants of Parosh—2,172; ⁹the descendants of Shephatiah—372; ¹⁰the descendants of Arah—652; ¹¹the descendants of Pahath-Moab (through the family of Jeshua and Joab)—2,818; ¹²the descendants of Elam—1,254; ¹³the descendants of Zattu—845; ¹⁴the descendants of Zaccai—760; ¹⁵the descendants of Binnui—648; ¹⁶the descendants of Bebai—628; ¹⁷the descendants of Azgad—2,322; ¹⁸the descendants of Adonikam—667; ¹⁹the descendants of Bigvai—2,067; ²⁰the descendants of Adin—655; ²¹the descendants of Ater (through Hezekiah)—98; ²²the descendants of Hashum—328; ²³the descendants of Bezai—324; ²⁴the descendants of Hariph—112; ²⁵the descendants of Gibeon—95.

²⁶These are the people from the towns of Bethlehem and Netophah—188; ²⁷of Anathoth—128; ²⁸of Beth Azmaveth—42; ²⁹of Kiriath Jearim, Kephirah, and Beeroth—743; ³⁰of Ramah and Geba—621; ³¹of Micmash—122; ³²of Bethel and Ai—123; ³³of the other Nebo—52; ³⁴of the other Elam—1,254; ³⁵of Harim—320; ³⁶of Jericho—345; ³⁷of Lod, Hadid, and Ono—721; ³⁸of Senaah—3,930.

³⁹These are the priests: the descendants of Jedaiah (through the family of Jeshua)—973; ⁴⁰the descendants of Immer—1,052; ⁴¹the descendants of Pashhur—1,247; ⁴²the descendants of Harim—1,017.

⁴³These are the Levites: the descendants of Jeshua (through Kadmiel through the family of Hodaviah)—74.

⁴⁴These are the singers: the descendants of Asaph—148.

⁴⁵These are the gatekeepers: the descendants of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita, and Shobai—138.

⁴⁶These are the Temple servants: the descendants of Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth, ⁴⁷Keros, Sia, Padon, ⁴⁸Lebana, Hagaba, Shalmai, ⁴⁹Hanan, Giddel, Gahar, ⁵⁰Reaiah, Rezin, Nekoda, ⁵¹Gazzam, Uzza, Paseah, ⁵²Besai, Meunim, Nephussim, ⁵³Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur, ⁵⁴Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha, ⁵⁵Barkos, Sisera, Temah, ⁵⁶Neziah, and Hatipha.

⁵⁷These are the descendants of the servants of Solomon: the descendants of Sotai, Sophereth, Perida, ⁵⁸Jaala, Darkon, Giddel, ⁵⁹Shephatiah, Hattil, Pokereth-Hazzebaim, and Amon.

⁶⁰The Temple servants and the descendants of the servants of Solomon totaled 392 people.

⁶¹Some people came to Jerusalem from the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon, and Immer, but they could not prove that their ancestors came from Israel. Here are their names and their number: ⁶²the descendants of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda—642.

⁶³And these priests could not prove that their ancestors came from Israel: the descendants of Hobaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai. (He had married a daughter of Barzillai from Gilead and was called by her family name.)

⁶⁴These people searched for their family records, but they could not find them. So they could not be priests, because they were thought to be unclean. ⁶⁵The governor ordered them not to eat any of the holy food until a priest settled this matter by using the Urim and Thummim.

⁶⁶The total number of those who returned was 42,360. ⁶⁷This is not counting their 7,337 male and female servants and the 245 male and female singers with them. ⁶⁸They had 736 horses, 245 mules, ⁶⁹435 camels, and 6,720 donkeys.

⁷⁰Some of the family leaders gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury about 19 pounds of gold, 50 bowls, and 530 pieces of clothing for the priests. ⁷¹Some of the family leaders gave about 375 pounds of gold and about 2,660 pounds of silver to the treasury for the work. ⁷²The total of what the other people gave was about 375 pounds of gold, about 2,250 pounds of silver, and 67 pieces of clothing for the priests. ⁷³So these people all settled in their own towns: the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Temple servants, and all the other people of Israel.

Ezra Reads the Teachings

By the seventh month the Israelites were settled in their own towns.

8All the people of Israel gathered together in the square by the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the teacher to bring out the Book of the Teachings of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel.

²So on the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought out the Teachings for the crowd. Men, women, and all who could listen and understand had gathered. ³At the square by the Water Gate Ezra read the Teachings out loud from early morning until noon to the men, women, and everyone who could listen and understand. All the people listened carefully to the Book of the Teachings.

⁴Ezra the teacher stood on a high wooden platform that had been built just for this time. On his right were Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah. And on his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

⁵Ezra opened the book in full view of everyone, because he was above them. As he opened it, all the people stood up. ⁶Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people held up their hands and said, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

⁷These Levites explained the Teachings to the people as they stood there: Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah. ⁸They read from the Book of the Teachings of God and explained what it meant so the people understood what was being read.

⁹Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher, and the Levites who were teaching said to all the people, “This is a holy day to the Lord your God. Don’t be sad or cry.” All the people had been crying as they listened to the words of the Teachings.

¹⁰Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy good food and sweet drinks. Send some to people who have none, because today is a holy day to the Lord. Don’t be sad, because the joy of the Lord will make you strong.”

¹¹The Levites helped calm the people, saying, “Be quiet, because this is a holy day. Don’t be sad.”

¹²Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send some of their food to others, and to celebrate with great joy. They finally understood what they had been taught.

¹³On the second day of the month, the leaders of all the families, the priests, and the Levites met with Ezra the teacher. They gathered to study the words of the Teachings. ¹⁴This is what they found written in the Teachings: The Lord commanded through Moses that the people of Israel were to live in shelters during the feast of the seventh month. ¹⁵The people were supposed to preach this message and spread it through all their towns and in Jerusalem: “Go out into the mountains, and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, myrtle trees, palms, and shade trees. Make shelters with them, as it is written.”

¹⁶So the people went out and got tree branches. They built shelters on their roofs, ⁿ in their courtyards, in the courtyards of the Temple, in the square by the Water Gate, and in the square next to the Gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷The whole group that had come back from captivity built shelters and lived in them. The Israelites had not done this since the time of Joshua son of Nun. And they were very happy.

¹⁸Ezra read to them every day from the Book of the Teachings, from the first day to the last. The people of Israel celebrated the feast for seven days, and then on the eighth day the people gathered as the law said.