Historical
7 When we had built the wall, we fixed the doors in their places. We chose men to be guards for the city's gates. We also chose singers and Levites to serve God. 2 I gave authority over Jerusalem to my brother Hanani and to Hananiah. Hananiah was the leader of the men in Jerusalem's strong building. He was a faithful man who respected God more than many men do. 3 I said to them, ‘Do not open Jerusalem's gates until the sun is high in the sky. Shut the gates and lock them while the guards are still there. Choose people who live in Jerusalem to be guards for the city. Some guards must stand at the city's gates. Other guards must stand near their own houses.’
People who came back from the exile
4 Jerusalem was a large city, but not many people lived in it. We had not yet built many houses. 5 It was not easy to keep the city safe. Then God put an idea in my mind. I called the leaders, the officers and the other people to meet together. I wanted to check the lists of their families. I found the list of those people who had first returned to Jerusalem.[a]
6 This is the list of the Jews who returned to Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah. King Nebuchadnezzar had taken them away as prisoners to Babylon. Now each of them had returned to live in his own town. 7 These people came from Babylon with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum and Baanah.
This is a list of the number of men in each Israelite clan who returned:
8 The clan of Parosh: 2,172.
9 The clan of Shephatiah: 372.
10 The clan of Arah: 652.
11 The clan of Pahath-Moab (descendants of Jeshua and Joab): 2,818.
12 The clan of Elam: 1,254.
13 The clan of Zattu: 845.
14 The clan of Zaccai: 760.
15 The clan of Binnui: 648.
16 The clan of Bebai: 628.
17 The clan of Azgad: 2,322.
18 The clan of Adonikam: 667.
19 The clan of Bigvai: 2,067.
20 The clan of Adin: 655.
21 The clan of Ater (descendants of Hezekiah): 98.
22 The clan of Hashum: 328.
23 The clan of Bezai: 324.
24 The clan of Hariph: 112.
25 The clan of Gibeon: 95.
26 The number of men who belonged to these towns:
Bethlehem and Netophah: 188.
27 Anathoth: 128.
28 Beth Azmaveth: 42.
29 Kiriath-Jearim, Kephirah and Beeroth: 743.
30 Ramah and Geba: 621.
31 Michmash: 122.
32 Bethel and Ai: 123.
33 The other Nebo: 52.
34 The other Elam: 1,254.
35 Harim: 320.
36 Jericho: 345.
37 Lod, Hadid and Ono: 721.
38 Senaah: 3,930.
39 These priests also returned:
The clan of Jedaiah (descendants of Jeshua): 973.
40 The clan of Immer: 1,052.
41 The clan of Pashhur: 1,247.
42 The clan of Harim: 1,017.
43 These Levites also returned:
The clans of Jeshua and Kadmiel (descendants of Hodaviah): 74.
44 Singers who were descendants of Asaph: 148.
45 Temple guards who were descendants of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita and Shobai: 138.
46 These were the families of the temple servants who returned:
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 were the servants of King Solomon whose descendants returned:
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 were 392 men.
61 There were some people who came from the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon and Immer. But they had no lists to show that they belonged to Israelite families.
62 There were from the clans of Delaiah, Tobiah and Nekoda: 642.
63 There were also some priests from the clans of Hobaiah, Hakkoz and Barzillai. (Barzillai was a man who had married a daughter of Barzillai, who came from Gilead. So he took Barzillai's name for himself.) 64 These people could not find any lists to show who their ancestors were. Because of this, they could not serve God as priests.[b] 65 The officer who ruled in Judah said that they must not eat the priests' special food. They must wait until there was a priest who could use the Urim and Thummim to decide the right thing to do.[c]
66 The number of all the people who returned to Judea was 42,360. 67 There were also 7,337 male and female servants, as well as 245 male and female singers. 68 They had 736 horses and 245 mules, 69 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys.[d]
70 Some of the family leaders gave money to help build the wall. The officer who ruled there gave 8.5 kilograms of gold, 50 bowls and 530 sets of special clothes for the priests. 71 Some family leaders gave 170 kilograms of gold and 1,300 kilograms of silver. 72 The rest of the people gave 170 kilograms of gold and 1,300 kilograms of silver. They also gave 67 sets of special clothes for the priests.
73 The priests, the Levites, the temple guards, the singers and the temple servants now lived in towns near Jerusalem. The other people also lived in the towns of Judah. When the seventh month of the year arrived, all the Israelite people were living in their towns and cities.
Ezra reads God's Law to the people
8 All the people met together in the open place near the Water Gate. They asked Ezra to bring the book of the Law of Moses. The Lord had given those laws to the Israelites so that they would obey them. 2 On the first day of the seventh month, Ezra brought the book of the Law to the people. In the crowd, there were men and women, as well as children who were old enough to understand. 3 Ezra read aloud while he stood there, in the open place near the Water Gate. He read to all the men, women and children from dawn until noon. Everyone listened carefully to Ezra while he read the book of the Law.
4 Ezra stood on a tall tower to speak to the people. They had built it from wood so that they could hear him. Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah stood at his right side. Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam stood at his left side. 5 Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was high above them. When he opened the book, the crowd all stood up. 6 Ezra praised the Lord, the great God. All the people lifted their hands and they shouted, ‘Amen! Amen!’ They bent their heads to the ground and they worshipped the Lord.
7 As the people listened, some Levites taught them the meaning of God's Law. The names of the Levites were: Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah. 8 They read the book of the Law and they explained it to the people.[e] They helped the people to understand what Ezra read to them.
9 Then Ezra (the priest who studied God's Law), Nehemiah (the ruler) and the Levites who were teaching the people said to all the people, ‘Do not cry or weep. Today is a special holy day for the Lord your God.’
They said this because the people were weeping. The words of the Law had made them sad. 10 Nehemiah said to the people, ‘Go to your homes and eat some good food. Drink sweet drinks. Share your food and your drink with people who do not have enough for themselves. This is a holy day for our Lord, so do not be sad. The Lord will give you joy so that you can be strong.’
11 The Levites also comforted the people. They said, ‘Do not weep. Today is a holy day, so do not be sad.’ 12 Then the people went away to eat and to drink. They shared their food with other people. They were very happy because they now understood God's word that they had heard.
The feast of the seventh month
13 On the second day of the seventh month, the leaders of families met together. They met with the priests, the Levites and with Ezra. They wanted to study the message of God's Law. 14 They discovered what the Lord had commanded about a certain feast. The Lord had told Moses that the Israelites should live in huts during this feast. They should do that in the seventh month of each year.[f]
15 They discovered that they must send a message to everyone in Jerusalem and all Judah's cities. They must tell people, ‘Go into the hill country. Bring back branches from olive trees, wild olive trees, myrtle trees, palm trees and other trees with lots of leaves. Use these branches to build huts to live in. That is what God's Law teaches.’
16 So the people went out and they brought back branches. They built huts on their roofs and in the yards of their houses. They also built them in the yards of the temple and in the open places near the Water Gate and the Gate of Ephraim. 17 Everyone who had returned from exile built a hut. They lived in them during the feast and they were very happy. The Israelites had not done this before, since the time of Nun's son, Joshua.
18 Every day of the feast, Ezra read aloud from the book of God's Law. The feast continued for seven days. On the eighth day, the people all met together, as the Law said that they should do.
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