Nehemiah
Chapter 12
1 Now, these are the priests and the Levites who went up with Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra.
2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush.
3 Shechaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,
4 Iddo, Ginnetho, Abijah,
5 Miamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,
6 Shemaiah, Joiarib, and Jedaiah.
7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the main priests and their relatives’ leaders when Jeshua was alive.
8 Additionally, the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who was in charge of giving thanks, he and his brothers.
9 Bakbukiah and Unni, their brothers, stood across from them on guard.
10 Jeshua had a son named Joiakim, Joiakim had a son named Eliashib, and Eliashib had a son named Joiada.
11 Joiada became the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan became the father of Jaddua.
12 During Joiakim’s time, there were leading priests from different families: Meraiah from Seraiah’s family and Hananiah from Jeremiah’s family.
13 From Ezra came Meshullam; from Amariah came Jehohanan.
14 From Melicu came Jonathan; from Shebaniah came Joseph.
15 From Harim’s family, Adna; from Meraioth’s family, Helkai;
16 From Iddo came Zechariah; from Ginnethon came Meshullam.
17 Abijah had Zichri; Miniamin and Moadiah had Piltai.
18 From Bilgah, Shammua; from Shemaiah, Jonathan;
19 From Joiarib’s family, Mattenai; from Jedaiah’s family, Uzzi.
20 From Sallai came Kallai; from Amok came Eber.
21 From Hilkiah came Hashabiah; from Jedaiah came Nethaneel.
22 During the time of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, the Levites and the heads of the families were listed, as well as the priests, up to the rule of Darius the Persian.
23 The leaders among Levi’s descendants were recorded in the chronicles up to the time of Johanan, son of Eliashib.
24 The leaders of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua son of Kadmiel. With their brothers opposite them, they were to praise and give thanks as David, a man of God, had ordered, one group facing another.
25 Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers guarding the entrances to the gates.
26 These events happened when Joiakim, son of Jeshua and grandson of Jozadak, was alive, during the time Nehemiah was governor and Ezra was priest and writer.
27 At the opening of Jerusalem’s wall, they invited the Levites from everywhere to celebrate with joy, using thank yous, songs, cymbals, stringed instruments, and harps.
28 The singers’ children came together from the area around Jerusalem and from the Netophathi villages.
29 From Gilgal, as well as from Geba and Azmaveth fields, for the singers had built villages around Jerusalem.
30 The priests and the Levites made themselves, the people, the gates, and the wall clean.
31 Then I led the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and organized two large groups of thankful people. One group walked on the right side of the wall towards the Dung Gate.
32 Hoshaiah and half of Judah’s leaders followed them.
33 Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam,
34 Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah,
35 Some priests’ sons had trumpets, including Zechariah, who was Jonathan’s son, Shemaiah’s grandson, Mattaniah’s great-grandson, Michaiah’s great-great-grandson, Zaccur’s great-great-great-grandson, and Asaph’s great-great-great-great-grandson.
36 His brothers Shemaiah, Azarael, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethaneel, and Judah, Hanani, played David’s musical instruments, with God’s man Ezra leading them.
37 At the Fountain Gate in front of them, they climbed the stairs to the City of David, went along the wall above David’s house, and reached the Water Gate on the east side.
38 The other group that was thanking God went opposite them, with me following, and half of the people were along the wall from past the furnace tower to the wide wall.
39 Above the Ephraim gate, the old gate, the fish gate, the Hananeel tower, and the Meah tower, as far as the sheep gate, they stopped at the prison gate.
40 Two groups of thankful people, along with me and half of the leaders, stood in God’s house.
41 The priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Michaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah had trumpets.
42 Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer were there. The singers sang loudly with their leader Jezrahiah.
43 On that day, they gave many sacrifices and were happy because God had made them very joyful. The women and children were happy too. The happiness of Jerusalem was heard from far away.
44 At that time, people were chosen to take care of the storage rooms for the treasures, the offerings, the first crops, and the tithes. They collected from the city fields what was legally given to the priests and Levites: because the people of Judah were happy with the priests and Levites who served.
45 The singers and gatekeepers followed God’s orders and the rules for purification, as directed by David and his son Solomon.
46 In the old times of David and Asaph, there were lead singers and songs of praise and thanks to God.
47 During the time of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, all of Israel provided daily shares to the singers and gatekeepers. They set apart sacred gifts for the Levites, and the Levites dedicated them to Aaron’s descendants.