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6 Then Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and our other enemies heard that I had built the wall. We repaired all the holes in the wall, but we had not yet put the doors in the gates. 2 So Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, Nehemiah, let’s meet together. We can meet in the town of Kephirim on the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to hurt me.
3 So I sent messengers to them with this answer: “I am doing important work, so I cannot come down. I don’t want the work to stop just so I can come down and meet with you.”
4 Sanballat and Geshem sent the same message to me four times, and I sent the same answer back to them each time. 5 Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his helper to me with the same message. And he had a letter in his hand that was not sealed. 6 This is what the letter said:
“There is a rumor going around. People are talking about it everywhere. And, by the way, Geshem says it is true. People are saying that you and the Jews are planning to turn against the king. This is why you are building the wall of Jerusalem. People are also saying that you will be the new king of the Jews. 7 And the rumor is that you have chosen prophets to announce this about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’
“Now I warn you, Nehemiah, King Artaxerxes will hear about this. So come, let’s meet and talk about this together.”
8 So I sent this answer back to Sanballat: “Nothing you are saying is happening. You are just making all that up in your own head.”
9 Our enemies were only trying to make us afraid. They are thinking to themselves, “The Jews will be afraid and too weak to keep on working. Then the wall will not be finished.”
But I prayed, “God, make me strong.”
10 One day I went to the house of a man named Shemaiah son of Delaiah. Delaiah was the son of Mehetabel. Shemaiah had to stay in his house. He said, “Nehemiah, let’s meet in God’s Temple. Let’s go inside the Holy Place[a] and lock the doors. Men are coming to kill you. Tonight they are coming to kill you.”
11 But I said to Shemaiah, “Should a man like me run away? You know that an ordinary man like me cannot go into the Holy Place without being put to death. I will not go!”
12 I knew that God had not sent Shemaiah. I knew that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had paid him to do that. 13 They hired Shemaiah to scare me and make me sin by going into that part of the Temple. They were planning those bad things against me so that they could shame me.
14 My God, please remember Tobiah and Sanballat and the bad things they have done. Also remember the woman prophet Noadiah and the other prophets who have been trying to scare me.
The Wall Is Finished
15 So the wall of Jerusalem was completed on the 25th day of the month of Elul.[b] It had taken 52 days to finish building the wall. 16 Then all our enemies heard that we had completed the wall, and all the nations around us saw that it was finished. So they lost their courage, because they understood that this work had been done with the help of our God.
17 Also in those days after the wall had been completed, the rich people of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and he was answering their letters. 18 They sent those letters because many people in Judah had promised to be loyal to him. The reason for this is that Tobiah was son-in-law to Shecaniah son of Arah. And Tobiah’s son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam. Meshullam is the son of Berekiah. 19 And in the past, those people had made a special promise to Tobiah. So they kept telling me how good Tobiah was. And they kept telling Tobiah what I was doing. Tobiah kept sending me letters to make me afraid.
7 After we finished building the wall and put the doors in the gates, we chose the men who would guard the gates and the men to sing in the Temple and help the priests. 2 Next, I put my brother Hanani in charge of Jerusalem. I chose another man named Hananiah to be the commander of the fort. I picked Hanani because he was a very honest man and he feared God more than most people do. 3 Then I said to Hanani and Hananiah, “Each day you must wait until the sun has been up for several hours before you open the gates of Jerusalem. You must shut and lock the gates before the sun goes down. Also choose people who live in Jerusalem as guards. Put some of them at special places to guard the city, and put the other people near their own houses.”
The List of Captives Who Returned
4 Now the city was large and there was plenty of room. But there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt. 5 So my God put it in my heart to have all the people meet together. I called together all the important people, the officials, and the common people. I did this so that I could make a list of all the families. I found the family lists[c] of the people who had been the first to return from captivity. This is what I found written there:
6 These are the people of the province who came back from captivity. In the past, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took them as prisoners to Babylon. These people came back to Jerusalem and Judah. They all went to their own towns. 7 They returned with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah. This is the list of names and numbers of men from Israel who came back:
8 the descendants of Parosh 2172
9 the descendants of Shephatiah 372
10 the descendants of Arah 652
11 the descendants of Pahath Moab of the family line of Jeshua and Joab 2818
12 the descendants of Elam 1254
13 the descendants of Zattu 845
14 the descendants of Zaccai 760
15 the descendants of Binnui 648
16 the descendants of Bebai 628
17 the descendants of Azgad 2322
18 the descendants of Adonikam 667
19 the descendants of Bigvai 2067
20 the descendants of Adin 655
21 the descendants of Ater through the family of Hezekiah 98
22 the descendants of Hashum 328
23 the descendants of Bezai 324
24 the descendants of Hariph 112
25 the descendants of Gibeon 95
26 from the towns of Bethlehem and Netophah 188
27 from the town of Anathoth 128
28 from the town of Beth Azmaveth 42
29 from the towns of Kiriath Jearim, Kephirah, and Beeroth 743
30 from the towns of Ramah and Geba 621
31 from the town of Micmash 122
32 from the towns of Bethel and Ai 123
33 from the other town of Nebo 52
34 from the other town of Elam 1254
35 from the town of Harim 320
36 from the town of Jericho 345
37 from the towns of Lod, Hadid, and Ono 721
38 from the town of Senaah 3930
39 These are the priests:
the descendants of Jedaiah through the family of Jeshua 973
40 the descendants of Immer 1052
41 the descendants of Pashhur 1247
42 the descendants of Harim 1017
43 These are the people from the tribe of Levi:
the descendants of Jeshua through Kadmiel through the family of Hodeiah[d] 74
44 These are the singers:
the descendants of Asaph 148
45 These are the gatekeepers:
the descendants of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita, and Shobai 138
46 These are the special Temple servants:
the descendants of Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth,
47 Keros, Sia, Padon,
48 Lebana, Hagaba, Shalmai,
49 Hanan, Giddel, Gahar,
50 Reaiah, Rezin, Nekoda,
51 Gazzam, Uzza, Paseah,
52 Besai, Meunim, Nephussim,
53 Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur,
54 Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha,
55 Barkos, Sisera, Temah,
56 Neziah, and Hatipha.
57 These are the descendants of the servants of Solomon:
Sotai, Sophereth, Perida,
58 Jaala, Darkon, Giddel,
59 Shephatiah, Hattil, Pokereth Hazzebaim, and Amon,
60 the Temple servants and the descendants of Solomon’s servants 392
61 Some people came to Jerusalem from these towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon, and Immer. But these people could not prove that their families really came from the Israelites:
62 the descendants of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda 642
63 From the family of priests there were the descendants of
Hobaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai. (If a man married a daughter of Barzillai from Gilead, he was counted as a descendant of Barzillai.)
64 These people searched for their family histories, but they could not find them. They could not prove that their ancestors were priests, so they could not serve as priests. Their names were not included in the list of priests. 65 The governor ordered them not to eat any of the most holy food until a priest could use the Urim and Thummim to ask God what to do.
66-67 All together, there were 42,360 people in the group who came back. This is not counting their 7337 men and women slaves. They also had 245 men and women singers with them. 68-69 They had 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels, and 6720 donkeys.
70 Some of the family leaders gave money to support the work. The governor gave 19 pounds[e] of gold to the treasury. He also gave 50 bowls and 530 pieces of clothing for the priests. 71 The family leaders gave 375 pounds[f] of gold to the treasury to support the work. They also gave 2750 pounds[g] of silver. 72 All together the other people gave 375 pounds of gold, 2500 pounds[h] of silver, and 67 pieces of clothing for the priests.
73 So the priests, the people from the tribe of Levi, the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Temple servants settled down in their own towns. And all the other Israelites settled down in their own towns. By the seventh month[i] of the year, all the Israelites had settled down in their own towns.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International