Old/New Testament

12 These are the priests and the Levites who returned with Zerubbabel (Shealtiel’s son) and Jeshua the high priest. The 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 Jedaiah. These were the leaders of the priests and their relatives during the time of Jeshua. ⁸ In addition the Levites who returned were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, and Judah; Mattaniah and his brothers were in charge of the songs of thanksgiving. ⁹ Their brothers Bakbukiah and Unni stood across from them in worship and led half of the responsive singing. ¹⁰ Jeshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim was the father of Eliashib, Eliashib was the father of Joiada, ¹¹ Joiada was the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan was the father of Jaddua.

¹² During the time of Joiakim’s high priesthood, these were the leaders of the priestly families: from Seraiah’s family—Meraiah; from Jeremiah’s family—Hananiah; ¹³ from Ezra’s family—Meshullam; from Amariah’s family—Jehohanan; ¹⁴ from Malluchi’s family—Jonathan; from Shebaniah’s family—Joseph; ¹⁵ from Harim’s family—Adna; from Meraioth’s family—Helkai; ¹⁶ from Iddo’s family—Zechariah; from Ginnethon’s family—Meshullam; ¹⁷ from Abijah’s family—Zichri; from Miniamin and Moadiah’s families—Piltai; ¹⁸ from Bilgah’s family—Shammua; from Shemaiah’s family—Jehonathan; ¹⁹ from Joiarib’s family—Mattenai; from Jedaiah’s family—Uzzi; ²⁰ from Sallai’s family—Kallai; from Amok’s family—Eber; ²¹ from Hilkiah’s family—Hashabiah; from Jedaiah’s family—Nethanel.

²² During the time of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, the Levites were listed by the heads of their families when Darius of Persia reigned; the practice was the same for the priests. ^23-24 In the book of the chronicles, the Levites who were listed as the heads of families, until the time of Johanan (Eliashib’s son), were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua (Kadmiel’s son). Their brothers stood across from them in worship and led the other half of the responsive singing following the instructions of David, the man of God. ²⁵ The gatekeepers who guarded the storerooms inside the gate were Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub. ²⁶ These men fulfilled their responsibilities during the time of Joiakim (Jeshua’s son and Jozadak’s grandson), and in the time of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest and scribe.

²⁷ Finally, the time came to dedicate the wall of Jerusalem. Levites were tracked down from all over to perform the dedication ceremonies in Jerusalem. They celebrated joyously and led the people in songs of thanksgiving, worshiping with abandon. They played cymbals and harps and other stringed instruments they could carry. ²⁸ Singers from all around Jerusalem also came—from the villages of the Netophathites, ²⁹ from Beth-gilgal and the farms at Geba and Azmaveth. The singers had built themselves villages all around Jerusalem where they lived. ³⁰ The priests and the Levites ended the ceremonies by purifying themselves and then the people, the wall, and the gates.

³¹ Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall. I had organized two large choirs to lead us in thanksgiving. One of the choirs walked south along the wall to the right, toward the potsherd gate. ³² Behind that choir marched Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah. ³³ This group included Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴ Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah. ^35-36 Some of the young priests played trumpets. Others played the same instruments David, the man of God, played. They came next: Zechariah, Jonathan’s son—the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph—and his brothers Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani. This group was led by Ezra the scribe. ³⁷ At the fountain gate, they went up the steps of the city of David, climbing the city wall, passing the house of David on their way to the water gate to the east.^[a]

³⁸ The other choir went to the left. Along with the remaining people up on the wall, I followed them north from the oven tower to the broad wall. ³⁹ We went over the Ephraim gate, the old gate, the fish gate, the tower of Hananel, and all the way to the tower of the hundred. We went through the sheep gate and stopped when we arrived at the guard’s gate. ⁴⁰ As they arrived at the temple of God, both choirs took their places, all the while giving thanks. Those of us leaders in the second group joined them. ⁴¹ We followed the priests; Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah played their trumpets ⁴² while Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer sang. The musicians were playing loudly and the singers were singing. Jezrahiah led them, ⁴³ and together the sounds filled the city. Everyone was rejoicing and making sacrifices to God in their great joy—even the women and children got involved. Far outside Jerusalem the noise from our celebration could be heard.

⁴⁴ That same day, we appointed men to be in charge of the storerooms that held everyone’s offerings—all their contributions, best offerings, and monetary tithes. These administrators were in charge of collecting from all of the villages the offerings set aside by the law for the priests and the Levites. Everyone was grateful to the priests and the Levites and were happy to contribute for all that they did. ⁴⁵ Just as David and his son Solomon instructed them to do, they served God and purified the people with the help of the singers and gatekeepers. ⁴⁶ It was during the united monarchy long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, that it became customary to have choir directors lead the singers in songs of worship and thanksgiving to God. ⁴⁷ In these times of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, the people of Israel also contributed a daily supply of food so that the singers and the gatekeepers had enough to eat. They also designated consecrated portions for the Levites’ share, who set aside food for the priests—who are Aaron’s descendants.

13 Later that day, when the book of Moses was being read to the people, we discovered a passage that said no Ammonite or Moabite should be allowed to enter the sacred gatherings of God’s people.^[b]

² This prohibition went back to the time when our ancestors wandered in the desert—when the Ammonites and the Moabites refused to welcome the Israelites with food and drink. In fact, they hired Balaam to curse them. But it didn’t work. God turned the curse into a blessing. ³ As soon as people heard what God’s law said, they excluded anyone with any non-Israelite descent from Israel.

^4-5 Before that happened, the priest named Eliashib took a large storeroom in the temple of God and gave it to Tobiah the Ammonite for his use. Eliashib was in charge of the storerooms, and Tobiah was a relative of his. Before he gave it to Tobiah, it had been used to store many different things for use in the temple: the grain offerings, the incense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and olive oil for the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers—also the offerings for the priests. ⁶ I was not in Jerusalem when Eliashib did this. It was the 32nd year of the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia,^[c] and I had returned to make a report to him. Later on I asked his permission to return ⁷ to Jerusalem. When I arrived, I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done by giving Tobiah a room in the courts of the temple of the True God, a place he wasn’t even allowed to enter because of his heritage. ⁸ I was livid. In my anger, I threw all of Tobiah’s property out of the room. ⁹ Then I had them purify the rooms and restore what was supposed to be there—the sacred vessels, the grain offerings, and the incense.

¹⁰ I also learned that the portion of the offering that belonged to the Levites had not been given to them. As a result, the Levites and singers who were responsible for leading God’s people in worship returned to work on their farms instead. ¹¹ I went straight to the leaders responsible for this and confronted them, asking, “Why are you neglecting God’s temple?” I reassembled the leaders who had returned home and placed them back at their posts. ¹² This allowed the people of Judah to bring their tithes of grain, wine, and olive oil into the storehouses again. ¹³ I placed trustworthy men in charge of the storerooms: Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah. I brought Hanan (Zaccur’s son and Mattaniah’s grandson) on as their assistant. It was their responsibility to make sure the daily rations were distributed to their relatives.

¹⁵ At that same time, I looked around Judah and saw men working the winepresses on the Sabbath. Others I found bringing large loads of grain to be loaded on donkeys. Wine, grapes, figs—they brought every kind of load into Jerusalem on the Sabbath no matter the season. I warned them about selling food on the Sabbath, just as they were doing it. ¹⁶ There were men from Tyre living in Jerusalem. They also brought fish and all kinds of merchandise into Jerusalem and sold it to the people of Judah on the Sabbath, even in Jerusalem. ¹⁷ I confronted the leaders of Judah, whom I held responsible for the public’s actions.

¹⁹ As the sun was setting before the Sabbath and darkness fell over Jerusalem’s gates, I ordered the doors to be closed. I required them to remain closed until the Sabbath ended. I placed some of my own guards by the gates to ensure no load of merchandise could be brought into the city during the Sabbath, but Jerusalem’s citizens could still come and go. ²⁰ On a couple of different occasions, some traders and merchants of a great variety of goods slept by the gates outside the wall. ²¹ They also received a warning from me.

They never came back on the Sabbath again. ²² I ordered the Levites to go through the purifying rituals and then to come back and guard the gates so that the Sabbath would be kept holy.

²³ During that same time, I witnessed men from Judah marrying women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. ²⁴ Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah or understand our laws but only the languages of their peoples. ²⁵ I rebuked and cursed them. Some of them I beat, and I tore out their hair. I made them take an oath in the name of God.

²⁸ Even the family of High Priest Eliashib was guilty. One of his grandsons, a son of Joiada, married one of the daughters of Sanballat the Horonite. I drove him away from me.

³⁰ Once more we went through the rituals of purification, removing every foreign object. I reassigned the priests and the Levites to their tasks; everyone had a specific job to do. ³¹ I made sure the altar was supplied with the offering of wood and the offerings of firstfruits, too—each at the right time.

²³ Peter and John, upon their release, went right to their friends and told the story—including the warning from the council. ²⁴ The whole community responded with this prayer to God:

³¹ They finished their prayer, and immediately the whole place where they had gathered began to shake. All the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began speaking God’s message with courageous confidence.

³² During those days, the entire community of believers was deeply united in heart and soul to such an extent that they stopped claiming private ownership of their possessions. Instead, they held everything in common. ³³ The apostles with great power gave their eyewitness reports of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Everyone was surrounded by an extraordinary grace. ³⁴ Not a single person in the community was in need because those who had been affluent sold their houses or lands and brought the proceeds ³⁵ to the emissaries^[c] of the Lord. They then distributed the funds to individuals according to their needs. ^36-37 One fellow, a Cyprian Levite named Joseph, earned a nickname because of his generosity in selling a field and bringing the money to the apostles in this way. From that time on, they called him Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement.”