Chronological

6 Now it came to pass when Sanvalat, and Toviyah, and Geshem the Arab, and the rest of oyveinu (our enemies), heard that I had rebuilt HaChomah, and that there was no peretz (gap) left therein (though at that time I had not set up the dalatot in the she’arim),

² That Sanvalat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they were choshevim (the ones scheming) to do me ra’ah (harm).

³ And I sent malachim unto them, saying, I am doing a melachah gedolah, so that I cannot come down. Why should the melachah cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?

⁴ Yet they sent unto me this message arbah pe’amim; and I answered them after the same manner.

⁵ Then sent Sanvalat his aid unto me in like manner the fifth time with an unsealed iggeret in his hand;

⁶ Wherein was written, It is reported among the Goyim, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Yehudim are choshevim (the ones scheming) revolt, for which cause thou buildest the Chomah, that thou mayest be their Melech, according to these reports.

⁷ And thou hast also appointed nevi’im to make this proclamation about thee at Yerushalayim, saying, There is a Melech in Yehudah! Now this report will get back to HaMelech. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.

⁸ Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such devarim (things) done as thou sayest, but thou inventest them out of thine own lev.

⁹ For they all were trying to make us afraid, saying, Their hands shall get too weakened for the melachah, that it be not completed. Now therefore, strengthen my hands!

¹⁰ Afterward I came unto the bais Shemayah ben Delayah ben Mehetave’el, who was confined; and he said, Let us meet together in the Bais HaElohim, within the Heikhal, and let us close the dalatot of the Heikhal, for they will come to slay thee; yea, tonight they come to slay thee.

¹¹ And I said, Should such a man as I flee? And who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the Heikhal to save his life? I will not go in.

¹² And, hinei, I perceived that Elohim had not sent him; but that he pronounced this nevu’ah (prophecy) against me, for Toviyah and Sanvalat had hired him.

¹³ Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have given me a shem rah (bad name), that they might discredit me.

¹⁴ Remember, Elohai, Toviyah and Sanvalat according to these their ma’asim, and also the neviah (prophetess) Noadyah, and the rest of the nevi’im, that would have intimidated me.

¹⁵ So the Chomah was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.

¹⁶ And it came to pass, that when all oyveinu (our enemies) heard thereof, and all the Goyim around us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes, for they perceived that this melachah was accomplished by Eloheinu.

¹⁷ Moreover in those days the nobles of Yehudah sent many iggerot unto Toviyah, and the iggrot of Toviyah were making reply unto them.

¹⁸ For there were many ba’alei shevuah in Yehudah unto him, because he was the choson (son-in-law) of Shechanyah ben Arach, and his son Yehochanan had taken the bat Meshullam ben Berechyah.

¹⁹ Also they reported his [Toviyah’s supposed] merits before me, and uttered my words to him. And Toviyah sent letters with the intent of intimidating me. [T.N. We see that the work of G-d had to be accomplished, not in a vacuum of peace and tranquility, but against the backdrop of manipulation and intimidation. Nehemiah gives G-d the credit and the glory for his escaping every snare.]

7 Now it came to pass, when the chomah was rebuilt, and I had set up the dalatot, and the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levi’im were appointed,

² That I gave my brother Chanani, along with Chananyah (the commander of the citadel), charge over Yerushalayim, for he was an ish emes, and feared HaElohim more than many.

³ And I said unto them, Let not the gates of Yerushalayim be opened until the shemesh be hot; and while they stand by, let them shut the dalatot, and bar them, and appoint watches of the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, every one in his watch, and every one to be near his bais.

⁴ Now the Ir was large and gedolah, but HaAm were few therein, and the batim (houses) were not rebuilt.

⁵ And Elohai put into mine lev to gather together the nobles, and the officials, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a Sefer HaYachash (record of the genealogy) of them which came up at the first, and found written therein:

⁶ These are the people of the province, that went up out of the Golus captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nevuchadnetzar Melech Bavel had carried away, and came again to Yerushalayim and to Yehudah, everyone unto his town;

⁷ Who came with Zerubavel, Yeshua, Nechemyah, Azaryah, Ra’amyah, Nachmani, Mordechai, Bilshan, Misperet, Bigvai, Nechum, and Ba’anah. The number of the men of the people of Yisroel was this:

⁸ The Bnei Parosh, 2,172.

⁹ The Bnei Shephatyah, 372.

¹⁰ The Bnei Arach, 652.

¹¹ The Bnei Pachat-Moav, of the Bnei Yeshua and Yoav, 2,818.

¹² The Bnei Elam, 1,254.

¹³ The Bnei Zattu, 845.

¹⁴ The Bnei Zaccai, 760.

¹⁵ The Bnei Binnui, 648.

¹⁶ The Bnei Bevai, 628.

¹⁷ The Bnei Azgad, 2,322.

¹⁸ The Bnei Adonikam, 667.

¹⁹ The Bnei Bigvai, 2,067.

²⁰ The Bnei Adin, 655.

²¹ The Bnei Ater of Yechizkiyah, 98.

²² The Bnei Chashum, 328.

²³ The Bnei Betzai, 324.

²⁴ The Bnei Chariph, 112.

²⁵ The Bnei Giveon, 95.

²⁶ The men of Beit-Lechem and Netophah, 188.

²⁷ The men of Anatot, 128.

²⁸ The men of Beit-Azmavet, 42.

²⁹ The men of Kiryat-Yearim, Kephirah, and Be’erot, 743.

³⁰ The men of Ramah and Geva, 621.

³¹ The men of Michmas, 122.

³² The men of Beit-El and Ai, 123.

³³ The men of the other Nevo, 52.

³⁴ The people of the other Elam, 1,254.

³⁵ The Bnei Charim, 320.

³⁶ The Bnei Yericho, 345.

³⁷ The Bnei Lod, Chadid, and Ono, 721.

³⁸ The Bnei Senaah, 3,930.

³⁹ The kohanim; the Bnei Yedayah, of the Bais Yeshua, 973.

⁴⁰ The Bnei Immer, 1,052.

⁴¹ The Bnei Pashchur, 1,247.

⁴² The Bnei Charim, 1,017.

⁴³ The Levi’im; the Bnei Yeshua, of Kadmiel, and of the Bnei Hodvah, 74.

⁴⁴ The singers; the Bnei Asaph, 148.

⁴⁵ The gatekeepers; the Bnei Shallum, the Bnei Ater, the Bnei Talmon, the Bnei Akuv, the Bnei Chatita, the Bnei Shovai, 138.

⁴⁶ The Netinim [servants of the Beis Hamikdash]; the Bnei Tzicha, the Bnei Chasupha, the Bnei Tabbaot,

⁴⁷ The Bnei Keros, the Bnei Sia, the Bnei Padon,

⁴⁸ The Bnei Levanah, the Bnei Chagava, the Bnei Salmai,

⁴⁹ The Bnei Chanan, the Bnei Giddel, the Bnei Gachar,

⁵⁰ The Bnei Reayah, the Bnei Retzin, the Bnei Nekoda,

⁵¹ The Bnei Gazzam, the Bnei Uzza, the Bnei Paseach,

⁵² The Bnei Besai, the Bnei Meunim, the Bnei Nephishesim,

⁵³ The Bnei Bakbuk, the Bnei Chakupha, the Bnei Charchur,

⁵⁴ The Bnei Batzlit, the Bnei Mechida, the Bnei Charsha,

⁵⁵ The Bnei Barkos, the Bnei Sisra, the Bnei Tamach,

⁵⁶ The Bnei Netziach, the Bnei Chatipha.

⁵⁷ The Bnei Avdei Sh’lomo; the Bnei Sotai, the Bnei Sopheret, the Bnei Perida, [T.N. This book teaches that the work of G-d is so difficult, that no one person can do it alone. People working together is a picture of what is involved in being in a Messianic kehillah or any ministry for G-d. We are inspired as we see how the wall came together in only 52 days (see Neh 6:15) when Nehemiah arrived in 445. However, everything was not accomplished quite so fast. The Mizbe’ach and the Beis Hamikdash were restored and the work took place from 538-515 B.C.E. and was finally completed after Darius I (522-486 B.C.E.) gave his official permission, though the foundation of the Beis Hamikdash was laid as early as 536 B.C.E. Then came the reforming work of Ezra in 458 B.C.E. during the reign of Artaxerxes I (465-424).

⁵⁸ The Bnei Yaala, the Bnei Darkon, the Bnei Giddel,

⁵⁹ The Bnei Shephatyah, the Bnei Chattil, the Bnei Pocheret-Hatzvayim, the Bnei Amon.

⁶⁰ All the Netinim, and the Bnei Avdei Sh’lomo, were three hundred ninety and two.

⁶¹ And these were they which went up also from Tel-Melach, Tel-Charsha, Keruv, Addon, and Immer, but they could not show their bais avot, nor their zera, whether they were of Yisroel.

⁶² The Bnei Delayah, the Bnei Toviyah, the Bnei Nekoda, 642.

⁶³ And of the kohanim; the Bnei Chavayah, the Bnei Hakotz, the Bnei Barzillai, which took one of the banot of Barzillai the Gileadi to wife, and was named after their shem.

⁶⁴ These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but it was not found; therefore were they, as polluted, put from the Kehunah (Priesthood).

⁶⁵ And the Tirshata said unto them that they should not eat of the kodesh hakodashim until there stood up a kohen with Urim and Tummim.

⁶⁶ The kol hakahal together was 42,360,

⁶⁷ not counting their manservants and their maidservants, of whom there were 7,337; and they had 245 meshorarim (singing men) and meshorarot (singing women).

⁶⁸ Their susim, seven hundred thirty and six; their mules, two hundred forty and five;

⁶⁹ Their camels, four hundred thirty and five; six thousand seven hundred and twenty donkeys.

⁷⁰ And some of the chief of the avot gave unto the work. The Tirshata (governor) gave to the treasury a thousand drachmas of zahav, fifty basins, five hundred and thirty kasenos (garments) for the Kohanim.

⁷¹ And some of the chief of the avot gave to the treasury of the work twenty thousand drachmas of zahav, and two thousand and two hundred manim of kesef.

⁷² And that which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand drachmas of zahav, and two thousand manim of kesef, and threescore and seven kasenos for the Kohanim.

⁷³ So the Kohanim, and the Levi’im, and the gatekeepers, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Netinim, and kol Yisroel, dwelt in their towns; |8:1| and when the seventh month [Tishri] came, the Bnei Yisroel were in their towns.