Nehemiah 11-12

Contemporary English Version

People Who Settled in Jerusalem

11 The nation's leaders and their families settled in Jerusalem. But there was room for only one out of every ten of the remaining families, and so they asked God to show them^[a] who would live there. ² Then everyone else asked God to bless those who were willing to live in Jerusalem.

^3 (A) Some of the people of Israel, the priests, the Levites, the temple workers, and the descendants of Solomon's servants lived on their own property in the towns of Judah. But the leaders of the province lived in Jerusalem with their families.

The Judah Tribe

^4-6 From the Judah tribe, two leaders settled in Jerusalem with their relatives. One of them was Athaiah son of Uzziah. His ancestors were Zechariah, Amariah, Shephatiah, Mahalalel, and Perez, the son of Judah. From the descendants of Perez, 468 of the best men lived in Jerusalem.

The other leader from Judah was Maaseiah the son of Baruch. His ancestors were Colhozeh, Hazaiah, Adaiah, Joiarib, Zechariah, and Shelah, the son of Judah.

The Benjamin Tribe

^7-8 From the Benjamin tribe, three leaders settled in Jerusalem. The first was Sallu son of Meshullam, and the others were Gabbai and Sallai. Sallu's ancestors were Joed, Pedaiah, Kolaiah, Maaseiah, Ithiel, and Jeshaiah. Altogether, there were 928 men of the Benjamin tribe living in Jerusalem. ⁹ Joel son of Zichri was their leader, and Judah son of Hassenuah was second in command.

Priests

¹⁰ Four priests settled in Jerusalem. The first was Jedaiah; he was the son of Joiarib and the uncle of Jachin.^[b]

¹¹ The second priest to settle there was Seraiah son of Hilkiah. His ancestors were Meshullam, Zadok, Meraioth, and Ahitub, who had been a high priest. ¹² Altogether, there were 822 from his clan who served in the temple.

The third priest to settle there was Adaiah son of Jeroham. His ancestors were Pelaliah, Amzi, Zechariah, Pashhur, and Malchijah. ¹³ Altogether, there were 242 clan leaders among his relatives.

The fourth priest to settle there was Amashsai son of Azarel. His ancestors were Ahzai, Meshillemoth, and Immer. ¹⁴ Altogether, there were 128 brave warriors from their clans, and their leader was Zabdiel son of Haggedolim.

Levites

¹⁵ Several Levites settled in Jerusalem. First, there was Shemaiah son of Hasshub. His ancestors were Azrikam, Hashabiah, and Bunni.

¹⁶ Next, there were Shabbethai and Jozabad, the Levite leaders in charge of the work outside the temple.

¹⁷ Then there was Mattaniah son of Mica. His ancestors were Zabdi and Asaph. Mattaniah led the temple choir in the prayer of praise. Bakbukiah, who also settled in Jerusalem, was his assistant.

Finally, there was Abda son of Shammua; his grandfather was Galal, and his great-grandfather was Jeduthun.

¹⁸ Altogether, 284 Levites settled in the holy city.

Temple Guards and Others

¹⁹ One hundred seventy-two temple guards settled in Jerusalem; their leaders were Akkub and Talmon.

²⁰ The rest of the Israelites, including priests and Levites, lived on their own property in the other towns of Judah. ²¹ But the temple workers lived in the section of Jerusalem known as Ophel, and the two men in charge of them were Ziha and Gishpa.

²² Uzzi son of Bani was the leader of the Levites in Jerusalem. His grandfather was Hashabiah, his great-grandfather was Mattaniah, and his great-great-grandfather was Mica. He belonged to the Asaph clan that was in charge of the music for the temple services, ²³ though the daily choice of music and musicians was decided by royal decree of the Persian king.

²⁴ The people of Israel were represented at the Persian court by Pethahiah son of Meshezabel from the Zerah clan of the Judah tribe.

The People in the Other Towns and Villages

²⁵ Some of the people of Judah lived in the following towns near their farms: Kiriath-Arba, Dibon, Jekabzeel, ²⁶ Jeshua, Moladah, Beth-Pelet, ²⁷ Hazar-Shual, Beersheba, ²⁸ Ziklag, Meconah, ²⁹ Enrimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth, ³⁰ Zanoah, Adullam, Lachish, and Azekah. In fact, they settled the towns from Beersheba in the south to Hinnom Valley in the north.

³¹ The people of Benjamin lived in the towns of Geba, Michmash, Aija, Bethel with its nearby villages, ³² Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah, ³³ Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim, ³⁴ Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat, ³⁵ Lod, and Ono, as well as in Craft Valley. ³⁶ Several groups of Levites from the territory of Judah were sent to live among the people of Benjamin.

A List of Priests and Levites

12 Many priests and Levites had returned from Babylonia with Zerubbabel^[c] and Joshua as their leaders. Those priests were Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, ² Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, ³ Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, ⁴ Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, ⁵ Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, ⁶ Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah, ⁷ Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and another Jedaiah. These were the leading priests and their assistants during the time of Joshua.^[d]

⁸ The Levites who returned were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah. They and their assistants were responsible for the songs of praise, ⁹ while Bakbukiah and Unno, together with their assistants, were responsible for the choral responses.

Descendants of Joshua the High Priest

¹⁰ Joshua was the father of Joiakim, the grandfather of Eliashib, and the great-grandfather of Joiada. ¹¹ Joiada was the father of Jonathan and the grandfather of Jaddua.

Leaders of the Priestly Clans

¹² When Joiakim was high priest, the following priests were leaders of their clans: Meraiah of the Seraiah clan, Hananiah of Jeremiah, ¹³ Meshullam of Ezra, Jehohanan of Amariah, ¹⁴ Jonathan of Malluchi, Joseph of Shebaniah, ¹⁵ Adna of Harim, Helkai of Meraioth, ¹⁶ Zechariah of Iddo, Meshullam of Ginnethon, ¹⁷ Zichri of Abijah,^[e] Piltai of Moadiah, ¹⁸ Shammua of Bilgah, Jehonathan of Shemaiah, ¹⁹ Mattenai of Joiarib, Uzzi of Jedaiah, ²⁰ Kallai of Sallai, Eber of Amok, ²¹ Hashabiah of Hilkiah, and Nethanel of Jedaiah.

The Priestly and Levite Families

²² During the time of the high priests Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, and including the time that Darius was king of Persia, a record was kept of the heads of the Levite and priestly families. ²³ However, no official record was kept of the heads of the Levite clans after the death of Johanan,^[f] the grandson of Eliashib.

²⁴ Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua son of Kadmiel,^[g] and their assistants organized two choirs of Levites to offer praises to God, just as King David, the man of God, had commanded.

²⁵ Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were responsible for guarding the storerooms near the temple gates.

²⁶ All of these men lived during the time of Joiakim^[h] and during the time that I was governor and Ezra, a teacher of the Law of Moses, was priest.

Nehemiah Dedicates the City Wall

²⁷ When the city wall was dedicated, Levites from everywhere in Judah were invited to join in the celebration with songs of praise and with the music of cymbals, small harps, and other stringed instruments. ^28-29 The Levite singers lived in villages around Jerusalem, and so they came from there, as well as from the villages around Netophah, Beth-Gilgal, Geba, and Azmaveth. ³⁰ The priests and Levites held special ceremonies to make themselves holy, and then they did the same for the rest of the people and for the gates and walls of the city.

³¹ I brought the leaders of Judah to the top of the city wall and put them in charge of the two groups that were to march around on top of the wall, singing praises to God. One group marched to the right in the direction of Garbage Gate. ³² Hoshaiah and half of the leaders followed them. ³³ Then came the priests Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴ Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah, ³⁵ all of them blowing trumpets. Next, there was Zechariah of the Asaph clan^{[i] 36} and his relatives, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani. They played musical instruments like those that had been played by David, the man of God. And they marched behind Ezra, the teacher of the Law. ³⁷ When they reached Fountain Gate, they climbed the steps to David's City and went past his palace, before stopping at the Water Gate near the eastern wall of the city.

³⁸ The second group of singers marched along the wall in the opposite direction, and I followed them, together with the other half of the leaders of Judah. We went past Oven Tower, Broad Wall, ³⁹ Ephraim Gate, Old Gate, Fish Gate, Hananel Tower, Hundred Tower, and on to Sheep Gate. Finally, we stopped at Gate of the Guard, ⁴⁰ where we stood in front of the temple with the other group, praising God. In the group with me were half of the leaders, ⁴¹ as well as the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, who were blowing trumpets. ⁴² Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer also stood there, as Jezrahiah led the singers. ⁴³ God had made the people very happy, and so on that day they celebrated and offered many sacrifices. The women and children joined in the festivities, and joyful shouts could be heard far from the city of Jerusalem.

Preparation for Worship

⁴⁴ On that same day, some leaders were appointed to be responsible for the safekeeping of gifts for the temple and to be in charge of receiving the first part of the harvest and the ten percent of the crops and livestock that was offered to God. These same leaders also collected the part of crops that the Law of Moses taught was to be given to the Levites.

Everyone was pleased with the work of the priests and Levites, ^45 (B) when they performed the ceremonies to make people acceptable to worship God. And the singers and the temple guards did their jobs according to the instructions given by David and his son Solomon. ⁴⁶ In fact, ever since the days of David and Asaph, there had been song leaders and songs of praise and worship. ⁴⁷ During the time that Zerubbabel and I were in charge, everyone in Israel gave what they were supposed to give for the daily needs of the singers and temple guards from the Levi tribe. Then the Levites would give the priests their share from what they had received.