Nehemiah 11

²who indeed call yourselves after the holy city and lean on the God of Israel; the Lord of Hosts is His name.

¹Awake, awake, clothe yourself with strength, O Zion! Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, holy city! For the uncircumcised and unclean will no longer enter you.

³⁴We have cast lots among the priests, Levites, and people for the donation of wood by our families at the appointed times each year. They are to bring it to the house of our God to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the Law.

¹⁸The Levites in the holy city totaled 284.

⁵Then the devil took Him to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple.

⁹Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: We will go against it as the lot dictates.

¹⁰We will take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to supply provisions for the army when they go to Gibeah in Benjamin to punish them for the atrocity they have committed in Israel.”

⁹My heart is with the princes of Israel, with the volunteers among the people. Bless the Lord!

¹⁶But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same devotion I have for you.

¹⁷For not only did he welcome our appeal, but he is eagerly coming to you of his own volition.

¹³be sure to return it to him by sunset, so that he may sleep in his own cloak and bless you, and this will be credited to you as righteousness before the Lord your God.

¹³The dying man blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.

²⁰if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,

¹So all Israel was recorded in the genealogies written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. But Judah was exiled to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness.

²Now the first to resettle their own property in their cities were Israelites, priests, Levites, and temple servants.

⁴³The temple servants: the descendants of Ziha, the descendants of Hasupha, the descendants of Tabbaoth,

¹Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles carried away to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar its king. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town,

⁷³So the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, and temple servants, along with some of the people and the rest of the Israelites, settled in their own towns. And by the seventh month the Israelites had settled in their towns.

⁵⁵The descendants of the servants of Solomon: the descendants of Sotai, the descendants of Hassophereth, the descendants of Peruda,

⁵⁶the descendants of Jaala, the descendants of Darkon, the descendants of Giddel,

⁵⁷The descendants of the servants of Solomon: the descendants of Sotai, the descendants of Sophereth, the descendants of Perida,

⁵⁸the descendants of Jaala, the descendants of Darkon, the descendants of Giddel,

²⁹But when he pulled his hand back and his brother came out, she said, “You have broken out first!” So he was named Perez.

¹⁸Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron,

³Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.

³Some of the descendants of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh lived in Jerusalem:

⁴Uthai son of Ammihud, the son of Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, a descendant of Perez son of Judah.

³³the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,

¹⁵The Fountain Gate was repaired by Shallun son of Col-hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah. He rebuilt it, roofed it, and installed its doors, bolts, and bars. He also repaired the wall of the Pool of Shelah near the king’s garden, as far as the stairs that descend from the City of David.

²¹The sons of Shelah son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, Laadah the father of Mareshah and the clans of the linen workers at Beth-ashbea,

²⁰These were the descendants of Judah by their clans: The Shelanite clan from Shelah, the Perezite clan from Perez, and the Zerahite clan from Zerah.

⁵From the Shilonites: Asaiah the firstborn and his sons.

⁵Then she gave birth to another son and named him Shelah; it was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.

⁷From the Benjamites: Sallu son of Meshullam, the son of Hodaviah, the son of Hassenuah;

⁸Ibneiah son of Jeroham; Elah son of Uzzi, the son of Michri; Meshullam son of Shephatiah, the son of Reuel, the son of Ibnijah;

⁷From the Benjamites: Sallu son of Meshullam, the son of Hodaviah, the son of Hassenuah;

¹⁰From the priests: Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, and Jachin;

³⁹The priests: the descendants of Jedaiah (through the house of Jeshua), 973;

⁶Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,

³⁶The priests: The descendants of Jedaiah (through the house of Jeshua), 973;

¹⁹of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi;

¹⁶Then I summoned the leaders: Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, as well as the teachers Joiarib and Elnathan.

¹¹Azariah son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the chief official of God’s temple;

²⁴When the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard this account, they were perplexed as to what was happening.

¹¹Note that Amariah, the chief priest, will be over you in all that pertains to the Lord, and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, in all that pertains to the king. And the Levites will serve as officers before you. Act resolutely; may the Lord be with the upright!”

¹So all Israel was recorded in the genealogies written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. But Judah was exiled to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness.

³²The chief of the leaders of the Levites was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest; he oversaw those responsible for the duties of the sanctuary.

¹Many years later, during the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,

²the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,

¹²Adaiah son of Jeroham, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah; Maasai son of Adiel, the son of Jahzerah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Meshillemith, the son of Immer;

¹³and 1,760 of their relatives, the heads of their families, able men for the work of the service of the house of God.

¹⁹Shallum son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his relatives from the Korahites were assigned to guard the thresholds of the Tent, just as their fathers had been assigned to guard the entrance to the dwelling of the Lord.

¹⁴From the Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, a descendant of Merari;

²⁰Now their fellow Levites were in charge of the treasuries of the house of God and the treasuries of the dedicated things.

⁷The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah—instructed the people in the Law as they stood in their places.

²⁹From the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons had the outside duties as officers and judges over Israel.

²So the Twelve summoned all the disciples and said, “It is unacceptable for us to neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.

³Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men confirmed to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will assign this responsibility to them

³³On the fourth day, in the house of our God, we weighed out the silver and gold and sacred articles into the hand of Meremoth son of Uriah, the priest. Eleazar son of Phinehas was with him, along with the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui.

¹⁵Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal, and Mattaniah son of Mica, the son of Zichri, the son of Asaph;

¹²Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah,

³¹Then I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall, and I appointed two great thanksgiving choirs. One was to proceed along the top of the wall to the right, toward the Dung Gate.

¹Additionally, David and the commanders of the army set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to prophesy with the accompaniment of lyres, harps, and cymbals. The following is the list of the men who performed this service:

²From the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah. These sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the king.

⁸The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who, with his associates, led the songs of thanksgiving.

⁹Bakbukiah and Unni, their associates, stood across from them in the services.

⁶Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

¹Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in the holy city of Jerusalem, while the remaining nine were to dwell in their own towns.

²I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

²But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months.

¹³Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

¹⁵So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand),

⁵³After Jesus’ resurrection, when they had come out of the tombs, they entered the holy city and appeared to many people.

²⁵Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers who guarded the storerooms at the gates.

⁴⁵The gatekeepers: the descendants of Shallum, the descendants of Ater, the descendants of Talmon, the descendants of Akkub, the descendants of Hatita, and the descendants of Shobai, 138 in all.

¹⁰For better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

¹⁷These were the gatekeepers: Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their relatives. Shallum was their chief;

¹⁸he was previously stationed at the King’s Gate on the east side. These were the gatekeepers from the camp of the Levites.

³These are the heads of the provinces who settled in Jerusalem. (In the villages of Judah, however, each lived on his own property in their towns—the Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants, and descendants of Solomon’s servants—

²⁶and the temple servants living on the hill of Ophel made repairs opposite the Water Gate toward the east and the tower that juts out.

³Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the house of the Lord, and he worked extensively on the wall at the hill of Ophel.

³¹Next to him, Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the temple servants and the merchants, opposite the Inspection Gate, and as far as the upper room above the corner.

⁴²and also Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. Then the choirs sang out under the direction of Jezrahiah.

¹³Hodiah, Bani, and Beninu.

¹¹Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah,

⁹Joel son of Zichri was the officer over them, and Judah son of Hassenuah was over the Second District of the city.

¹¹Seraiah son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the chief official of the house of God;

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

⁴⁷So in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside daily portions for the Levites, and the Levites set aside daily portions for the descendants of Aaron.

⁸I hereby decree what you must do for these elders of the Jews who are rebuilding this house of God: The cost is to be paid in full to these men from the royal treasury out of the taxes of the provinces west of the Euphrates, so that the work will not be hindered.

⁹Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, as well as wheat, salt, wine, and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given to them daily without fail.

²⁰And if anything else is needed for the house of your God that you may have occasion to supply, you may pay for it from the royal treasury.

²¹I, King Artaxerxes, decree to all the treasurers west of the Euphrates: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, may require of you, it must be provided promptly,

³³Those who were musicians, the heads of Levite families, stayed in the temple chambers and were exempt from other duties because they were on duty day and night.

³⁰Then his brother came out with the scarlet thread around his wrist, and he was named Zerah.

¹⁷Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief officials at the king’s side.

²¹Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua,

²⁰These were the descendants of Judah by their clans: The Shelanite clan from Shelah, the Perezite clan from Perez, and the Zerahite clan from Zerah.

²⁸but their duty was to assist the descendants of Aaron with the service of the house of the Lord, being responsible for the courts and chambers, the purification of all the holy things, and the work of the service of the house of God,

³Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.

¹⁵(Hebron used to be called Kiriath-arba, after Arba, the greatest man among the Anakim.) Then the land had rest from war.

²¹These were the southernmost cities of the tribe of Judah in the Negev toward the border of Edom: Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur,

²²Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah,

²and included Beersheba (or Sheba), Moladah,

²⁶Amam, Shema, Moladah,

²⁷Hazar-gaddah, Heshmon, Beth-pelet,

³Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem,

¹Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the Lord at Mizpah.

²⁸Hazar-shual, Beersheba, Biziothiah,

³¹So that place was called Beersheba, because it was there that the two of them swore an oath.

³³So he called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the city is Beersheba.

⁶That day Achish gave him Ziklag, and to this day it still belongs to the kings of Judah.

³¹Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,

³⁵Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah,

²⁵And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

¹¹the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one;

⁴¹The territory of their inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh,

³²Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon—twenty-nine cities in all, along with their villages.

³³These were in the foothills: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah,

³Therefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon, saying,

⁸From there the border went up the Valley of Ben-hinnom along the southern slope of the Jebusites (that is, Jerusalem) and ascended to the top of the hill that faces the Valley of Hinnom on the west, at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim.

³⁵They have built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Molech—something I never commanded them, nor had it ever entered My mind, that they should commit such an abomination and cause Judah to sin.

⁸When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

³¹They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind.

³²So behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place will no longer be called Topheth and the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.

¹³The Valley Gate was repaired by Hanun and the residents of Zanoah. They rebuilt it, installed its doors, bolts, and bars, and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall as far as the Dung Gate.

¹⁹and he called that place Bethel, though previously the city had been named Luz.

⁹So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua spent that night among the people.

¹¹“What have you done?” Samuel asked. And Saul replied, “When I saw that the troops were deserting me, and that you did not come at the appointed time and the Philistines were gathering at Michmash,

¹³From there the border crossed over to the southern slope of Luz (that is, Bethel) and went down to Ataroth-addar on the hill south of Lower Beth-horon.

²⁸Assyria has entered Aiath and passed through Migron, storing their supplies at Michmash.

³⁰the men of Ramah and Geba, 621;

³¹the men of Michmash, 122;

¹⁸Anathoth, and Almon—four cities, together with their pasturelands.

¹Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And when Ahimelech met David, he trembled and asked him, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”

³⁰Cry aloud, O Daughter of Gallim! Listen, O Laishah! O wretched Anathoth!

¹⁹He also put to the sword Nob, the city of the priests, with its men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep.

³²Yet today they will halt at Nob, shaking a fist at the mount of Daughter Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.

²⁷the men of Anathoth, 128;

³because the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have lived there as foreigners to this day.

¹⁸“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

²⁵Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,

¹⁷Then he would return to Ramah because his home was there, and there he judged Israel and built an altar to the Lord.

¹⁸another toward Beth-horon, and the third down the border road overlooking the Valley of Zeboim facing the wilderness.

¹²The sons of Elpaal: Eber, Misham, Shemed (who built Ono and Lod with its villages),

³⁷the men of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, 721;

¹⁴Meonothai was the father of Ophrah, and Seraiah was the father of Joab, the father of those living in Ge-harashim, which was given this name because its people were craftsmen.

⁵⁴Now these were the territories assigned to the descendants of Aaron from the Kohathite clan for their settlements, because the first lot fell to them:

⁵⁵They were given Hebron in the land of Judah and its surrounding pasturelands.

¹Now the family heads of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the other tribes of Israel

²at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said to them, “The Lord commanded through Moses that we be given cities in which to live, together with pasturelands for our livestock.”

⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.