Nehemiah 12

Nehemiah 12

The Priests and Levites

1Now these are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua:[#Ezr 2:1–2; Ne 10:2–8]

These were the leaders of the priests and of their relatives in the days of Joshua.

8Moreover the Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who was over the thanksgiving songs, in conjunction with his relatives.[#Ne 11:17; 12:24]

9There were also their relatives Bakbukiah and Unni, positioned across from each other in the watches.

10Joshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim was the father of Eliashib, Eliashib was the father of Joiada,

11Joiada was the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan was the father of Jaddua.

12Now in the days of Joiakim, the priests, these were the heads of the fathers’ houses:

22The Levites, as well as the priests, were recorded as the chiefs of the fathers’ houses in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua during the reign of Darius the Persian.

23The descendants of Levi who served as the chiefs of the fathers’ house were recorded in the book of the chronicles until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib.

24The leaders of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers across from them, to praise and to give thanks, section opposite section, according to the commandment of David the man of God.[#1Ch 25:1–26]

25Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers maintaining the guard duty at the storehouse of the gates.

26These leaders served during the days of Joiakim the son of Joshua, the son of Jozadak, during the days of Nehemiah the governor, and during the days of Ezra the priest, the scribe.[#Ne 8:9]

Nehemiah Dedicates the City Wall

27At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought to bring the Levites from all their places to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication appropriately with thanksgiving songs and singing, accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.[#1Ch 15:16, 28]

28The members of choirs had assembled from the regions all around Jerusalem, from the villages of the Netophathites,[#1Ch 2:54; 9:16]

29from Beth-gilgal, and from fields of Geba and Azmaveth, because they had built villages for themselves all around Jerusalem.

30Then the priests and the Levites purified themselves. They also purified the people, the gates, and the wall.[#Ex 19:10; Job 1:5]

31Then I led the commanders of Judah up to the top of the wall and appointed two great thanksgiving choirs. The first choir proceeded to the right on the wall toward the Refuse Gate.[#Ne 12:38; #Ne 2:13]

32Behind them followed Hoshaiah, and half of the princes of Judah,

33with Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam,

34Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah,

35and some of the priests with trumpets—Zechariah, the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zakkur, the son of Asaph,

36in conjunction with his relatives—Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, being accompanied with the musical instruments of David the man of God. Ezra the scribe went before them.[#1Ch 23:5; Ne 12:24]

37At the Fountain Gate, directly across from them, they ascended the steps of the City of David, following that sloped section of the wall up to the house of David, then eastward to the Water Gate.[#Ne 2:14; #Ne 3:26]

38The second thanksgiving choir proceeded to the left where I followed them with the other half of the people on top of the wall, from the Tower of the Furnaces to the Broad Wall,[#Ne 3:8, 11]

39then from above the Ephraim Gate past the Old Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate, but they stood still at the Gate of the Guard.[#Ne 3:6; #Ne 3:3; #Ne 3:1]

40So the two thanksgiving choirs stood in the house of God, as did I and the half of the officials with me,

41and the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets,

42and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malkijah, Elam, and Ezer. The singers sang loudly. Jezrahiah was their director.

43On that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great cause for rejoicing. The wives and the children rejoiced, too. From far away the joyful celebration of Jerusalem was heard.[#Ps 92:4]

Temple Responsibilities

44At that time men were appointed to govern over the chambers for the treasures, for the contributions, for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, so that they might gather into them out of the fields of the cities the legal portions belonging to the priests and Levites. This was because the celebration of Judah survived on the basis of the priests and the Levites[#Ne 13:12–13]

45who, accompanied by the singers and the gatekeepers, attentively preserved the practices of their God and the practices of purification, according to the commandment of David and of his son Solomon.[#1Ch 25:1–26]

46For in the former days of David and Asaph there were leaders for the singers, the songs of praise, and thanksgivings to God.[#2Ch 29:30]

47All Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah gave the singers and the gatekeepers their portions, as specified daily. Likewise, they consecrated what was due to the Levites, who then consecrated what was due to the descendants of Aaron.

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