Nehemiah 11–13

1Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in the holy city of Jerusalem, while the remaining nine were to dwell in their own towns.

2And the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.

3These are the heads of the provinces who settled in Jerusalem. (In the villages of Judah, however, each lived on his own property in their towns—the Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants, and descendants of Solomon’s servants—

4while some of the descendants of Judah and Benjamin settled in Jerusalem.) From the descendants of Judah: Athaiah son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, a descendant of Perez;

5and Maaseiah son of Baruch, the son of Col-hozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, a descendant of Shelah.

6The descendants of Perez who settled in Jerusalem totaled 468 men of valor.

7From the descendants of Benjamin: Sallu son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah;

8and his followers Gabbai and Sallai—928 men.

9Joel son of Zichri was the officer over them, and Judah son of Hassenuah was over the Second District of the city.

10From the priests: Jedaiah son of Joiarib; Jachin;

11Seraiah son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the chief official of the house of God;

12and their associates who did the work at the temple—822 men; Adaiah son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah;

13and his associates, the leaders of families—242 men; Amashai son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer;

14and his associates —128 mighty men of valor. Zabdiel son of Haggedolim was their overseer.

15From the Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni;

16Shabbethai and Jozabad, two leaders of the Levites, who supervised the work outside the house of God;

17Mattaniah son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who led in thanksgiving and prayer; Bakbukiah, second among his associates; and Abda son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.

18The Levites in the holy city totaled 284.

19And the gatekeepers: Akkub, Talmon, and their associates, who kept watch at the gates—172 men.

20The rest of the Israelites, with the priests and Levites, were in all the villages of Judah, each on his own inheritance.

21The temple servants lived on the hill of Ophel, with Ziha and Gishpa over them.

22Now the overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica. He was one of Asaph’s descendants, who were the singers in charge of the service of the house of God.

23For there was a command from the king concerning the singers, an ordinance regulating their daily activities.

24Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, a descendant of Zerah son of Judah, was the king’s agent in every matter concerning the people.

25As for the villages with their fields, some of the people of Judah lived in Kiriath-arba, Dibon, Jekabzeel, and their villages;

26in Jeshua, Moladah, and Beth-pelet;

27in Hazar-shual; in Beersheba and its villages;

28in Ziklag; in Meconah and its villages;

29in En-rimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth,

30Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages; in Lachish and its fields; and in Azekah and its villages. So they settled from Beersheba all the way to the Valley of Hinnom.

31The descendants of Benjamin from Geba lived in Michmash, Aija, and Bethel with its villages;

32in Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah,

33Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim,

34Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat,

35Lod, and Ono; and in the Valley of the Craftsmen.

36And some divisions of the Levites of Judah settled in Benjamin.

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

2Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,

3Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,

4Iddo, Ginnethon, Abijah,

5Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,

6Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,

7Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah. These were the leaders of the priests and their associates in the days of Jeshua.

8The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who, with his associates, led the songs of thanksgiving.

9Bakbukiah and Unni, their associates, stood across from them in the services.

10Jeshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim was the father of Eliashib, Eliashib was the father of Joiada,

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

12In the days of Joiakim, these were the heads of the priestly families: of the family of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;

13of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan;

14of Malluchi, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph;

15of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai;

16of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam;

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

18of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jonathan;

19of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi;

20of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber;

21of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; and of Jedaiah, Nethanel.

22In the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, during the reign of Darius the Persian, the heads of the families of the Levites and priests were recorded.

23As for the descendants of Levi, the family heads up to the days of Johanan son of Eliashib were recorded in the Book of the Chronicles.

24The leaders of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua son of Kadmiel, along with their associates, who stood across from them to give praise and thanksgiving as one section alternated with the other, as prescribed by David the man of God.

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 Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe.

27At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from all their homes and brought to Jerusalem to celebrate the joyous dedication with thanksgiving and singing, accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.

28The singers were also assembled from the region around Jerusalem, from the villages of the Netophathites,

29from Beth-gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for they had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem.

30After the priests and Levites had purified themselves, they purified the people, the gates, and the wall.

31Then I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall, and I appointed two great thanksgiving choirs. One was to proceed along the top of the wall to the right, toward the Dung Gate.

32Hoshaiah and half the leaders of Judah followed,

33along with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam,

34Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah,

35and some of the priests with trumpets, and also Zechariah 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 associates—Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani—with the musical instruments prescribed by David the man of God. Ezra the scribe led the procession.

37At the Fountain Gate they went directly up the steps of the City of David on the ascent to the wall and passed above the house of David to the Water Gate on the east.

38The second thanksgiving choir proceeded to the left, and I followed it with half the people along the top of the wall, past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall,

39over the Gate of Ephraim, the Jeshanah Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate. And they stopped at the Gate of the Guard.

40The two thanksgiving choirs then stood in the house of God, as did I, along with the half of the officials accompanying me,

41as well as the priests with their trumpets—Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah—

42and also Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. Then the choirs sang out under the direction of Jezrahiah.

43On that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar.

44And on that same day men were appointed over the rooms that housed the supplies, contributions, firstfruits, and tithes. The portions specified by the Law for the priests and Levites were gathered into these storerooms from the fields of the villages, because Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who were serving.

45They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, along with the singers and gatekeepers, as David and his son Solomon had prescribed.

46For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there were directors for the singers and for the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.

47So in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside daily portions for the Levites, and the Levites set aside daily portions for the descendants of Aaron.

1At that time the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people, and in it they found the passage stating that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,

2because they had not met the Israelites with food and water, but had hired Balaam to call down a curse against them (although our God had turned the curse into a blessing).

3As soon as the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all of foreign descent.

4Now before this, Eliashib the priest, a relative of Tobiah, had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God

5and had prepared for Tobiah a large room where they had previously stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the temple articles, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, along with the contributions for the priests.

6While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to Artaxerxes king of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign. Some time later I obtained leave from the king

7to return to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah by providing him a room in the courts of the house of God.

8And I was greatly displeased and threw all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.

9Then I ordered that the rooms be purified, and I had the articles of the house of God restored to them, along with the grain offerings and frankincense.

10I also learned that because the portions for the Levites had not been given to them, all the Levites and singers responsible for performing the service had gone back to their own fields.

11So I rebuked the officials and asked, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” Then I gathered the Levites and singers together and stationed them at their posts,

12and all Judah brought a tenth of the grain, new wine, and oil into the storerooms.

13I appointed as treasurers over the storerooms Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, with Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, to assist them, because they were considered trustworthy. They were responsible for distributing the supplies to their fellow Levites.

14Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my deeds of loving devotion for the house of my God and for its services.

15In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, and figs. All kinds of goods were being brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them against selling food on that day.

16Additionally, men of Tyre who lived there were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah in Jerusalem.

17Then I rebuked the nobles of Judah and asked, “What is this evil you are doing—profaning the Sabbath day?

18Did not your forefathers do the same things, so that our God brought all this disaster on us and on this city? And now you are rekindling His wrath against Israel by profaning the Sabbath!”

19When the evening shadows began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem, just before the Sabbath, I ordered that the gates be shut and not opened until after the Sabbath. I posted some of my servants at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.

20Once or twice, the merchants and those who sell all kinds of goods camped outside Jerusalem,

21but I warned them, “Why are you camping in front of the wall? If you do it again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on, they did not return on the Sabbath.

22Then I instructed the Levites to purify themselves and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this as well, O my God, and show me mercy according to Your abundant loving devotion.

23In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

24Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or of the other peoples, but could not speak the language of Judah.

25I rebuked them and called down curses on them. I beat some of these men and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves!

26Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.

27Must we now hear that you too are doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”

28Even one of the sons of Jehoiada son of Eliashib the high priest had become a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I drove him away from me.

29Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.

30Thus I purified the priests and Levites from everything foreign, and I assigned specific duties to each of the priests and Levites.

31I also arranged for contributions of wood at the appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, with favor.