Nehemiah 12/נחמיה י״ב

1These are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua:Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

2Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,

3Shecaniah, Rehum, Meramoth,

4Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah,

5Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,

6Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,

7Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the heads of the priests and their brothers in the time of Jeshua.

9and Bakbukiah and Unni [and] their brothers served opposite them by shifts.

10Jeshua begot Joiakim; Joiakim begot Eliashib; Eliashib [begot] Joiada;

11Joiada begot Jonathan; Jonathan begot Jaddua.

12In the time of Joiakim, the heads of the priestly clans were: Meriaiah—of the Seraiah clan; Hananiah—of the Jeremiah clan;

13Meshullam—of the Ezra clan; Jehohanan—of the Amariah clan;

14Jonathan—of the Melicu clan; Joseph—of the Shebaniah clan;

15Adna—of the Harim clan; Helkai—of the Meraioth clan;

16Zechariah—of the Iddo clan; Meshullam—of the Ginnethon clan;

17Zichri—of the Abijah clan … of the Miniamin clan; Piltai—of the Moadiah clan;

18Shammua—of the Bilgah clan; Jehonathan—of the Shemaiah clan;

19Mattenai—of the Joiarib clan; Uzzi—of the Jedaiah clan;

20Kallai—of the Sallai clan; Eber—of the Amok clan;

21Hashabiah—of the Hilkiah clan; Nethanel—of the Jedaiah clan.

22The Levites and the priests were listed by heads of clans in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, down to the reign of Darius the Persian.

23But the Levite heads of clans are listed in the book of the chronicles to the time of Johanan son of Eliashib.

24The heads of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua son of Kadmiel, and their brothers served opposite them, singing praise and thanksgiving hymns by the ordinance of David the agent of God—served opposite them in shifts;

25Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub, guarding as gatekeepers by shifts at the vestibules of the gates.

26These were in the time of Joiakim son of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and in the time of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest, the scribe.

27At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites, wherever they lived, were sought out and brought to Jerusalem to celebrate a joyful dedication with thanksgiving and with song, accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.

28The companies of singers assembled from the [Jordan] plain, the environs of Jerusalem, and from the Netophathite villages;

29from Beth-hagilgal, from the countryside of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers built themselves villages in the environs of Jerusalem.

30The priests and Levites purified themselves; then they purified the people, and the gates, and the wall.

31I had the officers of Judah go up onto the wall, and I appointed two large thanksgiving [choirs] and processions. [One marched] south on the wall, to the Dung Gate;

32behind them were Hoshaiah and half the officers of Judah,

33and Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam,

34Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah,

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

36and his brothers Shemaiah, and Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the agent of God; and Ezra the scribe went ahead of them.

37From there to the Fountain Gate, where they ascended the steps of the City of David directly before them, by the ascent on the wall, above the house of David, [and onward] to the Water Gate on the east.

38The other thanksgiving [choir] marched on the wall in the opposite direction, with me and half the people behind it, above the Tower of Ovens to the Broad Wall;

39and above the Gate of Ephraim, the Jeshanah Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate; and they halted at the Gate of the Prison Compound.

40Both thanksgiving choirs halted at the House of God, and I and half the prefects with me,

41and the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, Hananiah, with trumpets,

42and Maaseiah and Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. Then the singers sounded forth, with Jezrahiah in charge.

43On that day, they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God made them rejoice greatly; the women and children also rejoiced, and the rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard from afar.

44At that time commissioners were appointed over the chambers that served as treasuries for the gifts, the first fruits, and the tithes, into which the portions prescribed by the Teaching for the priests and Levites were gathered from the fields of the towns; for the people of Judah were grateful to the priests and Levites who were in attendance,

45who kept the charge of their God and the charge of purity, as well as to the singers and gatekeepers [serving] in accord with the ordinance of David and Solomon his son—

46for the chiefs of the singers and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God already existed in the time of David and Asaph.

47And in the time of Zerubbabel, and in the time of Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions of the singers and the gatekeepers, and made sacred contributions for the Levites, and the Levites made sacred contributions for the Aaronites.