Nehemiah 12 - Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV)

Legitimate Servants for the Temple

12 These are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Jeshua:

Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, ² Amariah, Malluk, Hattush,
³ Shekaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, ⁴ Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah,
⁵ Mijamin, Ma’adiah, Bilgah, ⁶ Shemaiah, and Joiarib, Jedaiah,
⁷ Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah.
These were the heads of the priests and their relatives in the days of Jeshua.

⁸ These are the Levites:

Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah,
Mattaniah (he and his relatives were in charge of songs of thanksgiving),
⁹ and Bakbukiah and Unni (their relatives were stationed opposite them for the services).

The Succession of Priests

¹⁰ Now Jeshua was the father of Joiakim,
and Joiakim was the father of Eliashib,
and Eliashib was the father of Joiada,
¹¹ and Joiada was the father of Jonathan,
and Jonathan was the father of Jaddua.

¹² Now in the days of Joiakim, the priests who were the heads of the families were as follows:

the head of Seraiah’s family was Meraiah
of Jeremiah’s: Hananiah
¹³ of Ezra’s: Meshullam
of Amariah’s: Jehohanan
¹⁴ of Malluk’s: Jonathan
of Shebaniah’s: Joseph
¹⁵ of Harim’s: Adna
of Meraioth’s: Helkai
¹⁶ of Iddo’s: Zechariah
of Ginnethon’s: Meshullam
¹⁷ of Abijah’s: Zikri
of Miniamin’s, of Moadiah’s: Piltai
¹⁸ of Bilgah’s: Shammua
of Shemaiah’s: Jehonathan
¹⁹ and of Joiarib’s: Mattenai
of Jedaiah’s: Uzzi
²⁰ of Sallai’s: Kallai
of Amok’s: Eber
²¹ of Hilkiah’s: Hashabiah
of Jedaiah’s: Nethanel.

²² In the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, the Levites were recorded by the heads of families,^[a] as were the priests, until the reign of Darius the Persian. ²³ The descendants of Levi who were heads of families were recorded in the book of the chronicles, down to the days of Johanan son of Eliashib.

²⁴ The heads of the Levites were as follows:

Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua son of Kadmiel and his relatives, who stood opposite them to praise and to give thanks according to the command of David the man of God, one division corresponding to another.

²⁵ Mattaniah and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers standing guard at the storerooms at the gates. ²⁶ These men served in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and Ezra the priest, the scribe.

The Dedication of the Wall of Jerusalem

²⁷ Now for the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites had been invited from all their places, in order to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the joyful dedication with both thanksgiving hymns and with songs using cymbals, harps, and lyres. ²⁸ The singers had been gathered both from the district around Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophathites, ²⁹ from Beth Gilgal, and from the countryside of Geba and Azmaveth, because the singers had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem. ³⁰ The priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people, the gates, and the wall.

³¹ I brought the officers of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two large thanksgiving choirs and two groups for the procession.

One group proceeded south on top of the west wall toward the Dung Gate. ³² Behind them went Hoshaiah and half of the officers of Judah, ³³ also Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam, ³⁴ Judah and Benjamin, and Shemaiah and Jeremiah, ³⁵ as well as some of the priests with trumpets, namely, 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, ³⁶ and his relatives Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Ma’ai, Nethanel, and Judah, and Hanani with the musical instruments of David the man of God. Ezra the scribe led them. ³⁷ From the Fountain Gate they went directly up the steps to the City of David, by the ascent to the wall which was above David’s house and over the Water Gate on the east.^[b]

³⁸ The second thanksgiving choir was assigned to go in the opposite direction. Both I and half of the people were behind it on top of the wall. They went over the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall, ³⁹ and over the Ephraim Gate (that is, over the Old Gate), and over the Fish Gate and the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, and up to the Sheep Gate, and they stood at the Guard’s Gate.

⁴⁰ The two thanksgiving choirs stood in the house of God, as did I and half of the officials with me, ⁴¹ as well as the priests: Eliakim, Ma’aseiah, Miniamin, Mikaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah with trumpets, ⁴² and Ma’aseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, and Malkijah, and Elam, and Ezer. Then the singers sang with Jezrahiah as their leader. ⁴³ That day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The joy of Jerusalem was heard a long way away.

⁴⁴ That day men were appointed as supervisors over the storerooms, the contributions, the firstfruits, and the tithes, in order to gather the portions required by the Law for the priests and the Levites from the fields^[c] of the towns, because Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who carried out their duties. ⁴⁵ They and the singers and the gatekeepers continued the service of their God and the service of purification, according to the command of David and his son Solomon, ⁴⁶ because formerly in the days of David and Asaph, Asaph was the head of the singers and of songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. ⁴⁷ In the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah, all Israel continued to give the required portions for the singers and the gatekeepers daily. They would set apart that portion which was for the Levites, and the Levites would set apart that portion which was for the descendants of Aaron.

Footnotes

1. Nehemiah 12:22 Literally the heads of fathers
2. Nehemiah 12:37 The precise meaning of this part of the route is uncertain.
3. Nehemiah 12:44 The Hebrew text has on the basis of the fields.