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The Book of Nehemiah 12

12 These are the names of the priests and Levites who returned from Babylonia with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and with Joshua the Supreme Priest. The priests included Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, 2 Amariah, Malluk, Hattush, 3 Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, 4 Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, 5 Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, 6 Shemaiah, and Joiarib, Jedaiah, 7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah.

All those men were leaders of the priests, their associates, during the time when Joshua was the Supreme Priest.

8 The Levites who returned included Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah. Mattaniah and his associates led the people in singing songs to thank God. 9 Their associates Bakbukiah and Unni stood opposite them during the worship services and led a choir that sang responses. 10 Joshua the Supreme Priest was the father of Joiakim. Joiakim was the father of Eliashib. Eliashib was the father of Joiada. 11 Joiada was the father of Jonathan. Jonathan was the father of Jaddua.

12 When Joiakim was the Supreme Priest, these priests were the leaders of their clans. Meraiah was the leader of the clan of Seraiah. Hananiah was the leader of the clan of Jeremiah. 13 Meshullam was the leader of the clan of Ezra.

Jehohanan was the leader of the clan of Amariah.

14 Jonathan was the leader of the clan of Malluchi. Joseph was the leader of the clan of Shecaniah. 15 Adna was the leader of the clan of Harim. Helkai was the leader of the clan of Meraioth. 16 Zechariah was the leader of the clan of Iddo. Meshullam was the leader of the clan of Ginnethon. 17 Zichri was the leader of the clan of Abijah. Piltai was the leader of the clan of Miniamin and the clan of Moadiah. 18 Shammua was the leader of the clan of Bilgah. Jehonathan was the leader of the clan of Shemaiah. 19 Mattenai was the leader of the clan of Joiarib. Uzzi was the leader of the clan of Jedaiah. 20 Kallai was the leader of the clan of Sallai.

Eber was the leader of the clan of Amok.

21 Hashabiah was the leader of the clan of Hilkiah. Nethanel was the leader of the clan of Jedaiah.

22 Some scribes wrote down the names of the clan leaders of the Levites during the time when Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua were Supreme Priests. They wrote down the names of the clan leaders of the priests when Darius was king of Persia.

23 Scribes recorded the names of the clan leaders of the Levites in their record books up until the time when Johanan the descendant of Eliashib was the Supreme Priest. 24 Hashabiah, Serebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel were Levite leaders who directed one choir. Their associates stood opposite them directing another choir. The singers praised God and gave thanks to him, with one group facing the other. This was what King David, the man who served God faithfully, had instructed. 25 Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers. They stood guard at the storerooms near the gates. 26 They did that work during the time when Joiakim, the son of Jeshua and grandson of Jozadak, was the Supreme Priest. They did it again during the time when Nehemiah served as governor and Ezra served as priest and scribe.

27 When we dedicated the wall around Jerusalem, we summoned the Levites from all the places where they were living. We brought them to Jerusalem to assist in dedicating the wall by rejoicing and giving thanks and by singing accompanied by cymbals and harps and other stringed instruments. 28 We summoned the Levites who were used to singing together. They came to Jerusalem from nearby areas where they had settled around the city. They also came from places around the village of Netophah southeast of Jerusalem. 29 They also came from three places northeast of Jerusalem, Beth-Gilgal and the areas around Geba and Azmaveth. We summoned those singers because they had built villages to live in near Jerusalem. 30 The priests and Levites performed rituals to make themselves acceptable to God. Then they performed similar rituals to purify the other people, the gates, and the wall. 31 Then I gathered the leaders of Judah together on top of the wall. I assigned them to lead two large groups that would march around the city on top of the wall, thanking God. As they faced the city, one group walked to the right toward the Rubbish Gate. 32 Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah marched behind that group. 33 The people who marched with that group included Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, 34 Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah. 35 Some descendants of the priests also marched with that group playing musical instruments. They included Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph. 36 Some associates of Zechariah also marched and played musical instruments. They included Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani. They all were playing the same kinds of musical instruments that King David, the man who served God faithfully, had told the Levite musicians to play many years previously. Ezra the scribe marched in front of this group. 37 When the people in this group reached the Fountain Gate, they went up the steps that were in front of them to the area known as the City of David. Then they went along the top of the wall past the location of the royal palace of David, and then to the Water Gate, on the east side of the temple. 38 The other group of those who were singing and thanking Yahweh marched to the left on top of the wall. I followed them with half of the people. We marched past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall. 39 From there we marched past the Ephraim Gate, the Jeshanah Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred Soldiers to the Sheep Gate. We finished marching near a gate that leads into the temple area. 40 Both of the groups reached the temple as they were singing and giving thanks. They stood in their places there. I was there with the half of the city officials who had come with me. 41 My group included the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah. All of them were blowing trumpets. 42 Others who were blowing trumpets included Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malkijah, Elam, and Ezer. The singers sang with Jezrahiah who was their leader. 43 The people offered many sacrifices that day. They all rejoiced because God had made them very happy. The women and the children rejoiced along with the men, so the sound of the celebration in Jerusalem was so loud that people far away could hear it.

44 On that day we appointed men to be in charge of the storerooms. That was where the priests kept the money and the food and the grain and the tithes. The people brought these things from the fields near the cities into the storerooms for the priests and the Levites, as Moses had commanded in the law. The people of Judah did all this because they were so happy about the priests and the Levites serving in the temple. 45 The priests and the Levites served God by performing rituals to purify things. The singers and the gatekeepers also did their work as King David and his son Solomon had declared they should. 46 We did all this because that was how it was in the days of old, when David was king and Asaph was in charge of the temple musicians. There was someone to lead the singers, and they sang songs to praise and thank God. 47 During the time when Zerubbabel was the governor, the people all contributed the food that the singers and temple gatekeepers needed each day. They did the same during the time when Nehemiah was the governor. They gave a tenth of their crops to the Levites, and the Levites gave a tenth of that to the priests, who were descendants of Aaron, the first Supreme Priest.

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