The Leaders in Jerusalem

11 Now the leaders of the people ^(A)lived in Jerusalem. And the rest of the people ^(B)cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem ^(C)the holy city, while nine out of ten^[a] remained in the other towns. ² And the people blessed all the men ^(D)who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem.

^3 (E)These are the chiefs of the province who lived in Jerusalem; but in the towns of Judah ^(F)everyone lived on his property in their towns: Israel, the priests, the Levites, ^(G)the temple servants, ^(H)and the descendants of Solomon's servants. ⁴ And in Jerusalem lived certain of the sons of Judah and of the sons of Benjamin. Of the sons of Judah: Athaiah the son of Uzziah, son of Zechariah, son of Amariah, son of Shephatiah, son of Mahalalel, of the sons of ^(I)Perez; ⁵ and Maaseiah the son of Baruch, son of Col-hozeh, son of Hazaiah, son of Adaiah, son of Joiarib, son of Zechariah, son of the Shilonite. ⁶ All the sons of Perez who lived in Jerusalem were 468 valiant men.

⁷ And these are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, son of Joed, son of Pedaiah, son of Kolaiah, son of Maaseiah, son of Ithiel, son of Jeshaiah, ⁸ and his brothers, men of valor, 928.^{[b] 9} Joel the son of Zichri was their overseer; and Judah the son of Hassenuah was second over the city.

¹⁰ Of the priests: Jedaiah the son of Joiarib, Jachin, ¹¹ Seraiah the son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, ruler of the house of God, ¹² and their brothers who did the work of the house, 822; and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, son of Pelaliah, son of Amzi, son of Zechariah, son of Pashhur, son of Malchijah, ¹³ and his brothers, heads of fathers' houses, 242; and Amashsai, the son of Azarel, son of Ahzai, son of Meshillemoth, son of Immer, ¹⁴ and their brothers, mighty men of valor, 128; their overseer was Zabdiel the son of Haggedolim.

¹⁵ And of the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah, son of Bunni; ¹⁶ and Shabbethai and ^(J)Jozabad, of the chiefs of the Levites, who were over ^(K)the outside work of the house of God; ¹⁷ and ^(L)Mattaniah the son of Mica, son of Zabdi, son of Asaph, who was the leader of the praise,^[c] who gave thanks, and Bakbukiah, the second among his brothers; and Abda the son of Shammua, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun. ¹⁸ All the Levites in ^(M)the holy city were 284.

¹⁹ The gatekeepers, Akkub, Talmon and their brothers, who kept watch at the gates, were 172. ²⁰ And the rest of Israel, and of the priests and the Levites, were in all the towns of Judah, ^(N)every one in his inheritance. ^21 (O)But the temple servants lived on Ophel; and Ziha and Gishpa were over the temple servants.

²² The overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, son of Hashabiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Mica, of the sons of Asaph, the singers, over the work of the house of God. ^23 (P)For there was a command from the king concerning them, and a fixed provision for the singers, ^(Q)as every day required. ²⁴ And Pethahiah the son of Meshezabel, of the sons of Zerah the son of Judah, was at the king's side^[d] in all matters concerning the people.

Villages Outside Jerusalem

²⁵ And as for the villages, with their fields, some of the people of Judah lived in ^(R)Kiriath-arba and its villages, and in Dibon and its villages, and in Jekabzeel and its villages, ²⁶ and in Jeshua and in Moladah and Beth-pelet, ²⁷ in Hazar-shual, in Beersheba and its villages, ²⁸ in Ziklag, in Meconah and its villages, ²⁹ in En-rimmon, in Zorah, in Jarmuth, ³⁰ Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and its fields, and Azekah and its villages. So they encamped from Beersheba to ^(S)the Valley of Hinnom. ³¹ The people of Benjamin also lived from Geba onward, at Michmash, Aija, Bethel and its villages, ³² Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah, ³³ Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim, ³⁴ Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat, ³⁵ Lod, and ^(T)Ono, the valley of craftsmen. ³⁶ And certain divisions of the Levites in Judah were assigned to Benjamin.

Priests and Levites

12 These are ^(U)the priests and the Levites who came up with ^(V)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and ^(W)Jeshua: ^(X)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, Jedaiah. These were the chiefs of the priests and of their brothers in the days of Jeshua.

⁸ And the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who with his brothers was ^(Y)in charge of the songs of thanksgiving. ⁹ And Bakbukiah and Unni and their brothers stood opposite them ^(Z)in the service. ¹⁰ And Jeshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim the father of Eliashib, Eliashib the father of Joiada, ¹¹ Joiada the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan the father of Jaddua.

^12 (AA)And in the days of Joiakim were priests, heads of fathers' houses: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah; ¹³ of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan; ¹⁴ of 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; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.

²² In the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, the Levites were recorded as heads of fathers' houses; so too were the priests in the reign of Darius the Persian. ²³ As for the sons of Levi, their heads of fathers' houses ^(AB)were written in the Book of the Chronicles until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib. ²⁴ And the chiefs of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and ^(AC)Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers who stood opposite them, ^(AD)to praise and to give thanks, ^(AE)according to the commandment of David ^(AF)the man of God, ^(AG)watch by watch. ²⁵ Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers standing guard at ^(AH)the storehouses of the gates. ²⁶ These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and in the days of ^(AI)Nehemiah the governor and of ^(AJ)Ezra, the priest and scribe.

¹⁴ Therefore, my beloved, ^(A)flee from idolatry. ¹⁵ I speak ^(B)as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. ^16 (C)The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? ^(D)The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Because there is one bread, we who are many are ^(E)one body, for we all partake of the one bread. ¹⁸ Consider ^(F)the people of Israel:^{[a] (G)}are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? ¹⁹ What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that ^(H)an idol is anything? ²⁰ No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice ^(I)they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. ^21 (J)You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and ^(K)the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and ^(L)the table of demons. ^22 (M)Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? ^(N)Are we stronger than he?

Do All to the Glory of God

^23 (O)“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. ^24 (P)Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. ^25 (Q)Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. ²⁶ For ^(R)“the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.” ²⁷ If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, ^(S)eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. ²⁸ But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— ²⁹ I do not mean ^(T)your conscience, but his. For ^(U)why should my liberty be determined by someone else's conscience? ³⁰ If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that ^(V)for which I give thanks?

³¹ So, whether you eat or drink, or ^(W)whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ^32 (X)Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to ^(Y)the church of God, ³³ just as ^(Z)I try to please everyone in everything I do, ^(AA)not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

11 ^(AB)Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Head Coverings

² Now I commend you ^(AC)because you remember me in everything and ^(AD)maintain the traditions ^(AE)even as I delivered them to you.