9 When the fifth angel blew his trumpet, I saw a star^[a] fall from the sky to earth. It was given the key to the tunnel that leads down to the deep pit. ^2 (A) As it opened the tunnel, smoke poured out like the smoke of a great furnace. The sun and the air turned dark because of the smoke. ^3 (B) Locusts^[b] came out of the smoke and covered the earth. They were given the same power that scorpions have.

^4 (C) The locusts were told not to harm the grass on the earth or any plant or any tree. They were to punish only those people who did not have God's mark on their foreheads. ⁵ The locusts were allowed to make them suffer for five months, but not to kill them. The suffering they caused was like the sting of a scorpion. ^6 (D) In those days people will want to die, but they will not be able to. They will hope for death, but it will escape from them.

^7 (E) These locusts looked like horses ready for battle. On their heads they wore something like gold crowns, and they had human faces. ^8 (F) Their hair was like a woman's long hair, and their teeth were like those of a lion. ^9 (G) On their chests they wore armor made of iron. Their wings roared like an army of horse-drawn chariots rushing into battle. ¹⁰ Their tails were like a scorpion's tail with a stinger that had the power to hurt someone for five months. ¹¹ Their king was the angel in charge of the deep pit. In Hebrew his name was Abaddon, and in Greek it was Apollyon.^[c]

¹² The first horrible thing has now happened! But wait. Two more horrible things will happen soon.

^13 (H) Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet. I heard a voice speak from the four corners of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God. ¹⁴ The voice spoke to this angel and said, “Release the four angels who are tied up beside the great Euphrates River.” ¹⁵ The four angels had been prepared for this very hour and day and month and year. Now they were set free to kill a third of all people.

¹⁶ By listening, I could tell there were more than 200,000,000 war horses. ^17 (I) In my vision their riders wore fiery-red, dark-blue, and yellow armor on their chests. The heads of the horses looked like lions, with fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. ¹⁸ One third of all people were killed by the three terrible troubles caused by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur. ¹⁹ The horses had powerful mouths, and their tails were like poisonous snakes that bite and hurt.

^20 (J) The people who lived through these terrible troubles did not turn away from the idols they had made, and they did not stop worshiping demons. They kept on worshiping idols that were made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood. Not one of these idols could see, hear, or walk. ²¹ No one stopped murdering or practicing witchcraft or being immoral or stealing.

A List of Priests and Levites

12 Many priests and Levites had returned from Babylonia with Zerubbabel^[a] 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.^[b]

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,^[c] 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,^[d] the grandson of Eliashib.

²⁴ Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua son of Kadmiel,^[e] 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^[f] 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^{[g] 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 (A) 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.

The Lord Takes Care of His Creation