Nehemiah 12–13

Priests and Levites

12These were the priests^a and Levites^b who returned with Zerubbabel^c son of Shealtiel^d and with Joshua:^e

Seraiah,^f Jeremiah, Ezra,

²Amariah, Malluk, Hattush,

³Shekaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,

⁴Iddo,^g Ginnethon,^a Abijah,^h

⁵Mijamin,^b Moadiah, Bilgah,

⁶Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,ⁱ

⁷Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah and Jedaiah.

These were the leaders of the priests and their associates in the days of Joshua.

⁸The Levites were Jeshua,^j Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and also Mattaniah,^k who, together with his associates, was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving. ⁹Bakbukiah and Unni, their associates, stood opposite them in the services.

¹⁰Joshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim the father of Eliashib,^l Eliashib the father of Joiada, ¹¹Joiada the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan the father of Jaddua.

¹²In the days of Joiakim, these were the heads of the priestly families:

of Seraiah’s family, Meraiah;

of Jeremiah’s, Hananiah;

¹³of Ezra’s, Meshullam;

of Amariah’s, Jehohanan;

¹⁴of Malluk’s, Jonathan;

of Shekaniah’s,^c Joseph;

¹⁵of Harim’s, Adna;

of Meremoth’s,^d Helkai;

¹⁶of Iddo’s,^m Zechariah;

of Ginnethon’s, Meshullam;

¹⁷of Abijah’s,ⁿ Zikri;

of Miniamin’s and of Moadiah’s, Piltai;

¹⁸of Bilgah’s, Shammua;

of Shemaiah’s, Jehonathan;

¹⁹of Joiarib’s, Mattenai;

of Jedaiah’s, Uzzi;

²⁰of Sallu’s, Kallai;

of Amok’s, Eber;

²¹of Hilkiah’s, Hashabiah;

of Jedaiah’s, Nethanel.

²²The family heads of the Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan and Jaddua, as well as those of the priests, were recorded in the reign of Darius the Persian. ²³The family heads among the descendants of Levi up to the time of Johanan son of Eliashib were recorded in the book of the annals. ²⁴And the leaders of the Levites^o were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua son of Kadmiel, and their associates, who stood opposite them to give praise and thanksgiving, one section responding to the other, as prescribed by David the man of God.^p

²⁵Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon and Akkub were gatekeepers who guarded the storerooms at the gates. ²⁶They served in the days of Joiakim son of Joshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and of Ezra the priest, the teacher of the Law.

Dedication of the Wall of Jerusalem

²⁷At the dedication^q of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals,^r harps and lyres.^{s 28}The musicians also were brought together from the region around Jerusalem—from the villages of the Netophathites,^{t 29}from Beth Gilgal, and from the area of Geba and Azmaveth, for the musicians had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem. ³⁰When the priests and Levites had purified themselves ceremonially, they purified the people,^u the gates and the wall.

³¹I had the leaders of Judah go up on top of^e the wall. I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks. One was to proceed on top of^f the wall to the right, toward the Dung Gate.^{v 32}Hoshaiah and half the leaders of Judah followed them, ³³along with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴Judah, Benjamin,^w Shemaiah, Jeremiah, ³⁵as well as some priests with trumpets,^x and also Zechariah son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zakkur, the son of Asaph, ³⁶and his associates—Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah and Hanani—with musical instruments^y prescribed by David the man of God.^z Ezra^a the teacher of the Law led the procession. ³⁷At the Fountain Gate^b they continued directly up the steps of the City of David on the ascent to the wall and passed above the site of David’s palace to the Water Gate^c on the east.

³⁸The second choir proceeded in the opposite direction. I followed them on top of^g the wall, together with half the people—past the Tower of the Ovens^d to the Broad Wall,^{e 39}over the Gate of Ephraim,^f the Jeshanah^h Gate,^g the Fish Gate,^h the Tower of Hananelⁱ and the Tower of the Hundred,^j as far as the Sheep Gate.^k At the Gate of the Guard they stopped.

⁴⁰The two choirs that gave thanks then took their places in the house of God; so did I, together with half the officials, ⁴¹as well as the priests—Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah and Hananiah with their trumpets—⁴²and also Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malkijah, Elam and Ezer. The choirs sang under the direction of Jezrahiah. ⁴³And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.

⁴⁴At that time men were appointed to be in charge of the storerooms^l for the contributions, firstfruits and tithes.^m From the fields around the towns they were to bring into the storerooms the portions required by the Law for the priests and the Levites, for Judah was pleased with the ministering priests and Levites.^{n 45}They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did also the musicians and gatekeepers, according to the commands of David^o and his son Solomon.^{p 46}For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph,^q there had been directors for the musicians and for the songs of praise^r and thanksgiving to God. ⁴⁷So in the days of Zerubbabel and of Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the musicians and the gatekeepers. They also set aside the portion for the other Levites, and the Levites set aside the portion for the descendants of Aaron.^s

Nehemiah’s Final Reforms

13On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God,^{t 2}because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam^u to call a curse down on them.^v (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.)^{w 3}When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.^x

⁴Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms^y of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah,^{z 5}and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes^a of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.

⁶But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes^b king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission ⁷and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib^c had done in providing Tobiah^d a room in the courts of the house of God. ⁸I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.^{e 9}I gave orders to purify the rooms,^f and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense.^g

¹⁰I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them,^h and that all the Levites and musicians responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields.^{i 11}So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?”^j Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts.

¹²All Judah brought the tithes^k of grain, new wine and olive oil into the storerooms.^{l 13}I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms and made Hanan son of Zakkur, the son of Mattaniah, their assistant, because they were considered trustworthy. They were made responsible for distributing the supplies to their fellow Levites.^m

¹⁴Rememberⁿ me for this, my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.

¹⁵In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath.^o Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. ¹⁶People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath^p to the people of Judah. ¹⁷I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? ¹⁸Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city?^q Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.”^r

¹⁹When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath,^s I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. ²¹But I warned them and said, “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you.” From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. ²²Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

Remember^t me for this also, my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.

²³Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married^u women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.^{v 24}Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language^w of Judah. ²⁵I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath^x in God’s name and said: “You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves.^{y 26}Was it not because of marriages like these…