Nehemiah Chapter 12

Priests and Levites

¹ These are the priests and Levites that came up with Zerubbabel Ben-Shealtiel, the king, and Jeshua the high priest: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, ² Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, ³ Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, ⁴ Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, ⁵ Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, ⁶ Shemaiah and Joiarib, Jedaiah, ⁷ Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah. These were the leaders of the priests and their relatives at the time of Jeshua.

⁸ The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who with his brothers was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving. ⁹ Bakbukiah and Unni, their brothers, stood across from them in their service divisions. ¹⁰ Jeshua was Avi-Joiakim (Avi-Eliashib Avi-Joiada ¹¹ Avi-Jonathan Avi-Jaddua).                                                                                     

Neh 12:1-11

¹² At the time of Joiakim the priests, the family leaders were:

of Seraiah, Meraiah;

of Jeremiah, Hananiah;

¹³ of Ezra, Meshullam;

of Amariah, Jehohanan;

¹⁴ of Malluchi, Jonathan;

of Shebaniah, Joseph;

¹⁵ of Harim, Adna;

of Meraioth, Helkai;

¹⁶ of Iddo, Zechariah;

of Ginnethon, Meshullam;

¹⁷ of Abijah, Zichri;

of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai;                                                                        

Neh 12:12-17

¹⁸ of Bilgah, Shammua;

of Shemaiah, Jehonathan;

¹⁹ of Joiarib, Mattenai;

of Jedaiah, Uzzi;

²⁰ of Sallai, Kallai;

of Amok, Eber;

²¹ of Hilkiah, Hashabiah;

of Jedaiah, Nethanel.                                                                                           

Neh 12:18-21

²² The heads of the Levites’ families were registered at the time of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua; so were the priests during the reign of Darius the Persian. ²³ The Levites, heads of families, were registered in The Book of Chronicles up to the time of Johanan Ben-Eliashib. ²⁴ The heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua Ben-Kadmiel, with their brothers opposite to them, to praise and give thanks, as prescribed by David the man of God, division corresponding to division. ²⁵ Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub watched over the storehouses by the gates. ²⁶ These served at the time of Joiakim Ben-Jeshua Ben-Jozadak, Nehemiah the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe.

Dedication of the Walls

²⁷ At the dedication of the wall at Jerusalem, they sought out the Levites from wherever they were living, to bring them to Jerusalem so they could celebrate the dedication with hymns of thanksgiving and songs accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres. ²⁸ The singers gathered from the district around Jerusalem and the villages around Netophah, ²⁹ from Beth-gilgal and their fields in Geba and Azmaveth, because the singers had built villages around Jerusalem. ³⁰ The priests and Levites purified themselves, the people, the gates, and the wall.

Neh 12:22-30

³¹ Then I had the leaders of Judah come up on the wall, and I appointed two large choirs. The first choir went right on the wall toward the Refuse Gate. ³² Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah followed them, ³³ with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴ Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah, ³⁵ some of the priests with trumpets; Zechariah Ben-Jonathan (Ben-Shemaiah Ben-Mattaniah Ben-Micaiah Ben-Zaccur Ben-Asaph, ³⁶ and his relatives), Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God. Ezra the scribe went ahead of them. ³⁷ At the Fountain Gate they went up the steps of The City of David by the stairway of the wall above David’s palace to the Water Gate on the east.

³⁸ The second choir went left, while I followed them with half the people on the wall, above the Tower of Furnaces, to the broad wall, ³⁹ and above the Ephraim Gate, by the Old Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred as far as the Sheep Gate, and they stopped at the Guard Gate. ⁴⁰ Then the two choirs took their place in God’s Temple. So did I and half of the officials with me; ⁴¹ and the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with the trumpets; ⁴² and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. The singers sang with Jezrahiah their leader, ⁴³ and on that day they offered a great number of sacrifices and celebrated because God had made them happy. The women and children celebrated too; the joy in Jerusalem was heard a long way off.     

Neh 12:31-43

Provisions for Temple Worship

⁴⁴ On that day, men were also appointed to oversee the rooms for storing contributions, firstfruits, and tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the towns the portions required by the Law for the priests and Levites; because Judah celebrated over the priests and Levites that served. ⁴⁵ They performed the worship of God and the service of purification, together with the singers and the gatekeepers according to the command of David and Solomon. ⁴⁶ In the time of David and Asaph, there were leaders of the singers, and there were songs of praise and hymns of thanksgiving to God. ⁴⁷ Israel at the time of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah gave the portions due the singers and gatekeepers as each day required. They set apart the consecrated portion for the Levites, and the Levites set apart the consecrated portion for the descendants of Aaron.