The People Occupy Jerusalem

¹The leaders of the people were living in Jerusalem, the holy city. A tenth of the people from the other towns of Judah and Benjamin were chosen by sacred lots to live there, too, while the rest stayed where they were.

²And the people commended everyone who volunteered to resettle in Jerusalem.

³Here is a list of the names of the provincial officials who came to live in Jerusalem. (Most of the people, priests, Levites, Temple servants, and descendants of Solomon’s servants continued to live in their own homes in the various towns of Judah,

⁴but some of the people from Judah and Benjamin resettled in Jerusalem.)

From the tribe of Judah:

⁷From the tribe of Benjamin:

¹⁰From the priests:

¹⁵From the Levites:

¹⁹From the gatekeepers:

²⁰The other priests, Levites, and the rest of the Israelites lived wherever their family inheritance was located in any of the towns of Judah.

²¹The Temple servants, however, whose leaders were Ziha and Gishpa, all lived on the hill of Ophel.

²²The chief officer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, son of Hashabiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Mica, a descendant of Asaph, whose family served as singers at God’s Temple.

²³Their daily responsibilities were carried out according to the terms of a royal command.

²⁴Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, a descendant of Zerah son of Judah, was the royal adviser in all matters of public administration.

²⁵As for the surrounding villages with their open fields, some of the people of Judah lived in Kiriath-arba with its settlements, Dibon with its settlements, and Jekabzeel with its villages.

²⁶They also lived in Jeshua, Moladah, Beth-pelet,

²⁷Hazar-shual, Beersheba with its settlements,

²⁸Ziklag, and Meconah with its settlements.

²⁹They also lived in En-rimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth,

³⁰Zanoah, and Adullam with their surrounding villages. They also lived in Lachish with its nearby fields and Azekah with its surrounding villages. So the people of Judah were living all the way from Beersheba in the south to the valley of Hinnom.

³¹Some of the people of Benjamin lived at Geba, Micmash, Aija, and Bethel with its settlements.

³²They also lived in Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah,

³³Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim,

³⁴Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat,

³⁵Lod, Ono, and the Valley of Craftsmen.[#11:35 Or and Ge-harashim.]

³⁶Some of the Levites who lived in Judah were sent to live with the tribe of Benjamin.