^7:1When the wall had been rebuilt and I had positioned the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, ^7:2I then put in charge over Jerusalem¹ my brother Hanani and Hananiah² the chief of the citadel, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many do. ^7:3I³ said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning,⁴ until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them.⁵ Position residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their guard stations and some near their homes.” ^7:4Now the city was spread out⁶ and large, and there were not a lot of people in it.⁷ At that time houses had not been rebuilt. ^7:5My God placed it on my heart to gather the leaders,⁸ the officials, and the ordinary people so they could be enrolled on the basis of genealogy. I found the genealogical records⁹ of those who had formerly returned. Here is what I found written in that record:¹⁰

^7:6These are the people¹¹ of the province who returned¹² from the captivity of the exiles, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had forced into exile.¹³ They returned to Jerusalem and to Judah, each to his own city. ^7:7They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah.

The number of Israelite men¹⁴ was as follows:

^7:8the descendants¹⁵ of Parosh, 2,172;

^7:9the descendants of Shephatiah, 372;

^7:10the descendants of Arah, 652;

^7:11the descendants of Pahath-Moab (from the line¹⁶ of Jeshua and Joab), 2,818;

^7:12the descendants of Elam, 1,254;

^7:13the descendants of Zattu, 845;

^7:14the descendants of Zaccai, 760;

^7:15the descendants of Binnui, 648;

^7:16the descendants of Bebai, 628;

^7:17the descendants of Azgad, 2,322;

^7:18the descendants of Adonikam, 667;

^7:19the descendants of Bigvai, 2,067;

^7:20the descendants of Adin, 655;

^7:21the descendants of Ater (through Hezekiah), 98;

^7:22the descendants of Hashum, 328;

^7:23the descendants of Bezai, 324;

^7:24the descendants of Harif, 112;

^7:25the descendants of Gibeon, 95;

^7:26The men of Bethlehem¹⁷ and Netophah, 188;

^7:27the men of Anathoth, 128;

^7:28the men of the family¹⁸ of Azmaveth, 42;

^7:29the men of Kiriath Jearim, Kephirah, and Beeroth, 743;

^7:30the men of Ramah and Geba, 621;

^7:31the men of Micmash, 122;

^7:32the men of Bethel¹⁹ and Ai, 123;

^7:33the men of the other Nebo, 52;

^7:34the descendants of the other Elam, 1,254;

^7:35the descendants of Harim, 320;

^7:36the descendants of Jericho, 345;

^7:37the descendants of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, 721;

^7:38the descendants of Senaah, 3,930.

^7:39The priests:

the descendants of Jedaiah (through the family²⁰ of Jeshua), 973;

^7:40the descendants of Immer, 1,052;

^7:41the descendants of Pashhur, 1,247;

^7:42the descendants of Harim, 1,017.

^7:43The Levites:

the descendants of Jeshua (through Kadmiel, through the line of Hodaviah), 74.

^7:44The singers:

the descendants of Asaph, 148.

^7:45The gatekeepers:

the descendants of Shallum, the descendants of Ater, the descendants of Talmon, the descendants of Akkub, the descendants of Hatita, and the descendants of Shobai, 138.

^7:46The temple servants:

the descendants of Ziha, the descendants of Hasupha, the descendants of Tabbaoth, ^7:47the descendants of Keros, the descendants of Sia, the descendants of Padon, ^7:48the descendants of Lebanah, the descendants of Hagabah, the descendants of Shalmai, ^7:49the descendants of Hanan, the descendants of Giddel, the descendants of Gahar, ^7:50the descendants of Reaiah, the descendants of Rezin, the descendants of Nekoda, ^7:51the descendants of Gazzam, the descendants of Uzzah, the descendants of Paseah, ^7:52the descendants of Besai, the descendants of Meunim, the descendants of Nephussim, ^7:53the descendants of Bakbuk, the descendants of Hakupha, the descendants of Harhur, ^7:54the descendants of Bazluth, the descendants of Mehida, the descendants of Harsha, ^7:55the descendants of Barkos, the descendants of Sisera, the descendants of Temah, ^7:56the descendants of Neziah, the descendants of Hatipha.

^7:57The descendants of the servants of Solomon:

the descendants of Sotai, the descendants of Sophereth, the descendants of Perida, ^7:58the descendants of Jaala, the descendants of Darkon, the descendants of Giddel, ^7:59the descendants of Shephatiah, the descendants of Hattil, the descendants of Pokereth-Hazzebaim, and the descendants of Amon.

^7:60All the temple servants and the descendants of the servants of Solomon, 392.

^7:61These are the ones who came up from Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon, and Immer (although they were unable to certify²¹ their family connection²² or their ancestry,²³ as to whether they were really from Israel):

^7:62the descendants of Delaiah, the descendants of Tobiah, and the descendants of Nekoda, 642.

^7:63And from among the priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, and the descendants of Barzillai (who had married a woman from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that name). ^7:64They searched for their records in the genealogical materials, but none were found. They were therefore excluded²⁴ from the priesthood. ^7:65The governor²⁵ instructed them not to eat any of the sacred food until there was a priest who could consult²⁶ the Urim and Thummim.

^7:66The entire group numbered 42,360, ^7:67not counting their 7,337 male and female servants. They also had 245 male and female singers. ^7:68They had 736 horses, 245 mules, ^{7:69 (7:68)}²⁷ 435 camels, and 6,720 donkeys. ^7:70Some of the family leaders²⁸ contributed to the work. The governor contributed to the treasury 1,000 gold drachmas,²⁹ 50 bowls, and 530 priestly garments. ^7:71Some of the family leaders gave to the project treasury 20,000 gold drachmas and 2,200 silver minas. ^7:72What the rest of the people gave amounted to 20,000 gold drachmas, 2,000 silver minas, and 67 priestly garments.

^7:73The priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all the rest of Israel lived in their cities.

The People Respond to the Reading of the Law

When the seventh month arrived and the Israelites³⁰ were settled in their cities,³¹^8:1all the people gathered together¹ in the plaza which was in front of the Water Gate. They asked² Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had commanded Israel. ^8:2So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly which included men and women and all those able to understand what they heard. (This happened on the first day of the seventh month.) ^8:3So he read it before the plaza in front of the Water Gate from dawn till noon³ before the men and women and those children who could understand.⁴ All the people were eager to hear⁵ the book of the law.

^8:4Ezra the scribe stood on a towering wooden platform⁶ constructed for this purpose. Standing near him on his right were Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Masseiah. On his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam. ^8:5Ezra opened the book in plain view⁷ of all the people, for he was elevated above all the people. When he opened the book,⁸ all the people stood up. ^8:6Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people replied “Amen! Amen!” as they lifted their hands. Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

^8:7Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah—all of whom were Levites⁹—were teaching the people the law, as the people remained standing. ^8:8They read from the book of God’s law, explaining it¹⁰ and imparting insight. Thus the people¹¹ gained understanding from what was read.

^8:9Then Nehemiah the governor,¹² Ezra the priestly scribe,¹³ and the Levites who were imparting understanding to the people said to all of them,¹⁴ “This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping when they heard the words of the law. ^8:10He said to them, “Go and eat delicacies and drink sweet drinks and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord.¹⁵ Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

^8:11Then the Levites quieted all the people saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy. Do not grieve.” ^8:12So all the people departed to eat and drink and to share their food¹⁶ with others¹⁷ and to enjoy tremendous joy,¹⁸ for they had gained insight in the matters that had been made known to them.

^8:13On the second day of the month the family leaders¹⁹ met with²⁰ Ezra the scribe, together with all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to consider the words of the law. ^8:14They discovered written in the law that the LORD had commanded through²¹ Moses that the Israelites should live in temporary shelters during the festival of the seventh month, ^8:15and that they should make a proclamation and disseminate this message²² in all their cities and in Jerusalem:²³ “Go to the hill country and bring back olive branches and branches of wild olive trees, myrtle trees, date palms, and other leafy trees to construct temporary shelters, as it is written.”

^8:16So the people went out and brought these things²⁴ back and constructed temporary shelters for themselves, each on his roof and in his courtyard and in the courtyards of the temple²⁵ of God and in the plaza of the Water Gate and the plaza of the Ephraim Gate. ^8:17So all the assembly which had returned from the exile constructed temporary shelters and lived in them. The Israelites had not done so from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day. Everyone experienced very great joy.²⁶^8:18Ezra²⁷ read in the book of the law of God day by day, from the first day to the last.²⁸ They observed the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day they held an assembly²⁹ as was required.³⁰

Read in Logos

Footnotes

1 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
2 Some have suggested that “Hananiah” is another name for Hanani, Nehemiah’s brother, so that only one individual is mentioned here. However, the third person plural in v. 3 indicates two people are in view.
3 The present translation (along with most English versions) reads with the Qere, a Qumran text, and the ancient versions וָאֹמַר (va’omar, “and I said”) rather than the Kethib of the , which reads וַיֹּאמֶר (vayyo’mer, “and he said”).
4 Heb “until the heat of the sun.” The phrase probably means that the gates were to be opened only after the day had progressed a bit, not at the first sign of morning light (cf. , , , , , , ). It is possible, however, that the Hebrew preposition עַד (’ad), here translated as “until,” has a more rare sense of “during.” If so, this would mean that the gates were not to be left open and unattended during the hot part of the day when people typically would be at rest (cf. ).
5 Presumably this would mean the gates were not to be opened until later in the morning and were to remain open until evening. Some, however, have understood Nehemiah’s instructions to mean that the gates were not to be left open during the hottest part of the day, but must be shut and locked while the guards are still on duty. See J. Barr, “Hebrew עַד, especially at Job i.18 and Neh vii.3,” 27 (1982): 177–88.
6 Heb “wide of two hands.”
7 Heb “the people were few in its midst.”
8 Heb “nobles”; “important men.”
9 Heb “the book of genealogy.”
10 Heb “in it”; the referent (the genealogical record) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 Heb “the sons of”; , “the children of”; “the inhabitants of.”
12 Heb “who were going up.”
13 One medieval Hebrew manuscript has “to Babylon.” Cf. Ezra 2:1.
14 Heb “the men of the people of Israel.” Some English versions translate as “the people from Israel” () or “the Israelite people” (), but “men” should be retained because the following numbers presumably include only adult males.
15 Heb “the sons of.”
16 Heb “to the sons of.”
17 For location see ; ; ; .
18 The translation reads בְּנֵי (béne, “the sons of”) rather than the reading בֵית אַנְשֵׁי (’anshey vet, “men of the house of”). Cf. Ezra 2:24.
19 For location see ; ; ; ; .
20 Heb “to the house of.”
21 Heb “relate.”
22 Heb “the house of their fathers.”
23 Heb “their seed.”
24 Heb “they were desecrated.”
25 The Hebrew term תִּרְשָׁתָא (tirshata’; “Tirshatha”) is the official title of a Persian governor in Judea. In meaning it may be similar to “excellency” (cf. ). See further 1077 ; W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 395;
26 Heb “stood.”
27 Most Hebrew omit 7:68 , which reads “They had 736 horses, 245 mules,” and thus have one less verse in chap. 7, ending the chapter at 7:72. This verse is included in the and most English versions. Cf. Ezra 2:66.
28 Heb “the heads of the fathers.”
29 Heb “darics” (also in vv. 71, 72).
30 Heb “the sons of Israel.” So also in vv. 14, 17; 9:1.
31 The traditional understanding of the chapter and verse division here is probably incorrect. The final part of v. 73 is best understood as belonging with 8:1.
1 Heb “like one man.”
2 Heb “said [to].”
3 Heb “from the light till the noon of the day.”
4 Heb “all who could hear with understanding.” The word “children” is understood to be implied here by a number of English versions (e.g., , , ).
5 Heb “the ears of all the people were toward.”
6 Heb “a tower of wood.”
7 Heb “to the eyes.”
8 Heb “it”; the referent (the book) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 The reads “and the Levites.” The conjunction (“and”) should be deleted, following the , Aquila, and the . That the vav (ו) of the is the vav explicativum (“even the Levites”) is unlikely here.
10 The exact meaning of the pual participle מְפֹרָשׁ (méforash) in this verse is uncertain. The basic sense of the Hebrew word seems to be “to make distinct.” The word may also have the sense of “to divide in parts,” “to interpret,” or “to translate.” The context of Neh 8:8 does not decisively clarify how the participle is to be understood here. It probably refers to the role of the Levites as those who explained or interpreted the portions of biblical text that had been publicly read on this occasion. A different option, however, is suggested by the translation distincte (“distinctly”) of the (cf. , ). If the Hebrew word means “distinctly” here, it would imply that the readers paid particular attention to such things as word-grouping and pronunciation so as to be sure that the listeners had every opportunity to understand the message that was being read. Yet another view is found in the Talmud, which understands translation of the Hebrew text into Aramaic to be what is in view here. The following explanation of Neh 8:8 is found in Megillah 3a: “ ‘And they read in the book, in the law of God’: this indicates the [Hebrew] text; ‘with an interpretation’: this indicates the targum; ‘and they gave the sense’: this indicates the verse stops; ‘and caused them to understand the reading’: this indicates the accentuation, or, according to another version, the Masoretic notes.” However, this ancient rabbinic view that the origins of the are found in Neh 8:8 is debatable. It is not clear that the practice of paraphrasing the Hebrew biblical text into Aramaic in order to accommodate the needs of those Jews who were not at home in the Hebrew language developed this early. The translation of מְפֹרָשׁ adopted above (i.e., “explaining it”) understands the word to have in mind an explanatory function (cf. , , , ) rather than one of translation.
11 Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 The unexpected reference to Nehemiah here has led some scholars to suspect that the phrase “Nehemiah the governor” is a later addition to the text and not original.
13 Heb “the priest, the scribe.”
14 Heb “the people.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.
15 The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
16 Heb “to send portions.”
17 The Hebrew text does not include the phrase “with others” but it has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
18 Heb “to make great joy.”
19 Heb “the heads of the fathers.”
20 Heb “were gathered to”; , “gathered around”; “came together to.”
21 Heb “by the hand of.”
22 Heb “a voice.”
23 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
24 The words “these things” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
25 Heb “the house.”
26 Heb “And there was very great joy.”
27 Heb “He”; the referent (Ezra) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
28 Heb “the last day.”
29 Heb “on the eighth day an assembly.” The words “they held” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
30 Heb “according to the judgment.”