Priests and Levites Who Returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel

12 Now these are ^(A)the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, ² Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, ³ Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, ⁴ Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, ⁵ Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, ⁶ Shemaiah and Joiarib, Jedaiah, ⁷ Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah. These were the heads of the priests and their kinsmen in the days of Jeshua.

⁸ And the Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah who was ^[a]in charge of the songs of thanksgiving, he and his brothers. ⁹ Also Bakbukiah and Unni, their brothers, stood opposite them ^(B)in their service divisions. ¹⁰ Jeshua fathered Joiakim, Joiakim fathered Eliashib, Eliashib fathered Joiada, ¹¹ Joiada fathered Jonathan, and Jonathan fathered Jaddua.

¹² Now in the days of Joiakim, the priests, the heads of fathers’ households were: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah; ¹³ of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan; ¹⁴ of ^[b]Malluchi, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph; ¹⁵ of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai; ¹⁶ of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam; ¹⁷ of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai; ¹⁸ of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan; ¹⁹ of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi; ²⁰ of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber; ²¹ of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; and of Jedaiah, Nethanel.

The Chief Levites

²² As for the Levites, the heads of fathers’ households were registered in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua; so were the priests in the reign of Darius the Persian. ²³ The sons of Levi, the heads of fathers’ households, were registered in the Book of the Chronicles up to the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib. ²⁴ And the heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers opposite them, ^(C)to praise and give thanks, ^[c]as prescribed by David the man of God, ^(D)division corresponding to division. ²⁵ Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers keeping watch at ^(E)the storerooms of the gates. ²⁶ These men served in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of ^(F)Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe.

Dedication of the Wall

²⁷ Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites from all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem so that they could celebrate the dedication with joy, with songs of thanksgiving and with songs ^(G)to the accompaniment of cymbals, harps, and lyres. ²⁸ So the sons of the singers were assembled from the territory around Jerusalem, and from ^(H)the villages of the Netophathites, ²⁹ from Beth-gilgal and from their fields in Geba and Azmaveth, because the singers had built themselves villages around Jerusalem. ³⁰ The priests and the Levites ^(I)purified themselves; they also purified the people, the gates, and the wall.

Procedures for the Temple

³¹ Then I had the leaders of Judah come up on top of the wall, and I appointed two large ^[d]choirs, ^[e](J)the first proceeding to the right on top of the wall toward ^(K)the Dung Gate. ³² Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah followed them, ³³ with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴ Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah, ³⁵ and some of the sons of the priests with trumpets; and Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph, ³⁶ and his kinsmen, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, ^(L)with the musical instruments of David the man of God. And Ezra the scribe went before them. ³⁷ At ^(M)the Fountain Gate they went directly up ^(N)the steps of the city of David by the stairway of the wall, above the house of David to ^(O)the Water Gate on the east.

^38 (P)The second ^[f]choir proceeded to the ^[g]left, while I followed them with half of the people on the wall, ^(Q)above the Tower of Furnaces, to ^(R)the Broad Wall, ³⁹ and above ^(S)the Gate of Ephraim, by ^(T)the Ancient Gate, by the ^(U)Fish Gate, ^(V)the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate; and they stopped at ^(W)the Gate of the Guard. ⁴⁰ Then the two choirs took their positions in the house of God. So did I and half of the officials with me; ⁴¹ and the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with the trumpets; ⁴² and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. And the singers ^[h]sang, with Jezrahiah their leader, ⁴³ and on that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because ^(X)God had given them great joy, and the women and children rejoiced as well, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from far away.

⁴⁴ On that day ^(Y)men were also appointed over the chambers for the supplies, the contributions, the first fruits, and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions required by the Law for the priests and Levites; for Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who ^[i]served. ⁴⁵ For they performed the ^[j]worship of their God and the service of purification, together with the singers and the gatekeepers ^(Z)in accordance with the command of David and of his son Solomon. ⁴⁶ For in the days of David and ^(AA)Asaph, in ancient times, there were ^[k](AB)leaders of the singers, songs of praise and songs of thanksgiving to God. ⁴⁷ So all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah gave the portions due the singers and the gatekeepers ^(AC)as each day required, and they ^[l](AD)set apart the consecrated portion for the Levites, and the Levites ^[m]set apart the consecrated portion for the sons of Aaron.

Paul’s Defense before the Jews

22 “^[a](A)Brothers and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.”

² And when they heard that he was addressing them in the ^[b](B)Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he *said,

³ “^(C)I am ^(D)a Jew, born in ^(E)Tarsus of ^(F)Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated ^[c]under ^(G)Gamaliel, ^[d](H)strictly according to the Law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as ^(I)you all are today. ^4 (J)I persecuted this ^(K)Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, ⁵ as also ^(L)the high priest and all ^(M)the Council of the elders ^[e]can testify. From them I also ^(N)received letters to ^(O)the brothers, and started off for ^(P)Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem ^[f]as prisoners to be punished.

⁶ “^(Q)But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus at about noon, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, ⁷ and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ ⁸ And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am ^(R)Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ ⁹ And those who were with me ^(S)saw the light, but ^(T)did not ^[g]understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. ¹⁰ And I said, ‘^(U)What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that has been appointed for you to do.’ ¹¹ But since I ^(V)could not see because of the ^[h]brightness of that light, I came into Damascus being led by the hand by those who were with me.

¹² “Now a certain ^(W)Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law and ^(X)well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, ¹³ came to me, and standing nearby he said to me, ‘^(Y)Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And ^[i](Z)at that very moment I looked up at him. ¹⁴ And he said, ‘^(AA)The God of our fathers has ^(AB)appointed you to know His will and to ^(AC)see the ^(AD)Righteous One and to hear a ^[j]message from His mouth. ¹⁵ For you will be ^(AE)a witness for Him to all people of ^(AF)what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ Now why do you delay? ^(AG)Get up and be baptized, and ^(AH)wash away your sins by ^(AI)calling on His name.’

¹⁷ “It happened when I ^(AJ)returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I ^(AK)fell into a trance, ¹⁸ and I saw Him saying to me, ‘^(AL)Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’ ¹⁹ And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another ^(AM)I used to imprison and ^(AN)beat those who believed in You. ²⁰ And ^(AO)when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing nearby and approving, and watching over the cloaks of those who were killing him.’ ²¹ And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away ^(AP)to the Gentiles.’”

²² They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “^(AQ)Away with such a man from the earth, for ^(AR)he should not be allowed to live!” ²³ And as they were shouting and ^(AS)throwing off their cloaks and ^(AT)tossing dust into the air, ²⁴ the commander ordered that he be brought into ^(AU)the barracks, saying that he was to be ^(AV)interrogated by flogging so that he would find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way. ²⁵ But when they stretched him out ^[k]with straps, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it ^[l]lawful for you to flog ^(AW)a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?” ²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.” ²⁷ The commander came and said to ^[m]Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.” ²⁸ The commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I was actually born a citizen.” ²⁹ Therefore, those who were about to ^(AX)interrogate him immediately backed away from him; and the commander also ^(AY)was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had ^[n](AZ)put him in chains.

³⁰ Now on the next day, ^(BA)wanting to know for certain why Paul had been accused by the Jews, he ^(BB)released him and ordered the chief priests and all ^(BC)the ^[o]Council to assemble, and he brought Paul down and placed him before them.