Nehemiah 12

₁Here are the names of the priests and Levites who came back from the land of Babylon. They came back with Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and with Jeshua and with Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, ₂Amariah, Malluk, Hattush, ₃Shekaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, ₄Iddo, Ginnethon, Abijah, ₅Mijamin, Moadiah, Bilgah, ₆Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah, ₇Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah and Jedaiah. They were the leaders of the priests and their families at the time when Jeshua was high-priest.

₈The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah and Mattaniah. Mattaniah and the other people with him were the leaders of the people who had to sing and thank the Lord. ₉The Levites, Bakbukiah and Unni, stood opposite them when they sang. ₁₀The high-priest was Jeshua. He was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim was the father of Eliashib, Eliashib was the father of Joiada, ₁₁Joiada was the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan was the father of Jaddua.

₁₂The names of the leaders of the priest families while Joiakim was the high-priest were: Meraiah the leader of the Seraiah family, Hananiah from the Jeremiah family, ₁₃Meshullam from the Ezra family, Jehohanan from the Amariah family, ₁₄Jonathan from the Malluk family, Joseph from the Shebaniah family, ₁₅Adna from the Harim family, Helkai from the Meraioth family, ₁₆Zechariah from the Iddo family, Meshullam from the Ginnethon family, ₁₇Zikri from the Abijah family, Piltai from the Miniamin and Moadiah families, ₁₈Shammua from the Bilgah family, Jehonathan from the Shemaiah family, ₁₉Mattenai from the Joiarib family, Uzzi from the Jedaiah family, ₂₀Kallai from the Sallai family, Eber from the Amok family, ₂₁Hashabiah from the Hilkiah family and Nethanel from the Jedaiah family.

₂₂The names of the Levites and family leaders were written in the list of names in the time when Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan and Jaddua were the high-priests. The names of the priests were written in the list of names in the time when Darius was king of the land of Persia. ₂₃The names of the leaders of families of the Levites were written in the book of names when Johanan, son of Eliashib, was the high-priest. ₂₄The leaders of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah and Jeshua, son of Kadmiel. The other Levites stood in front of them to praise the Lord and thank Him. David, the man of God, had told these 2 groups to stand like that. ₂₅The other leaders of the Levites were Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah and Meshullam. Talmon and Akkub were gatekeepers and guards who guarded the store rooms. ₂₆They did this at the time when Joiakim, son of Jeshua, son of Jozadak, was the priest. At the same time Nehemiah was the governor and the secretary was Ezra, the priest.

₂₇When they wanted to consecrate the walls of Jerusalem, they looked everywhere for the Levites in the towns where they lived and they invited them to come to Jerusalem. The Levites had to consecrate the wall and celebrate with them. They had to praise the Lord and play music with cymbals, harps and lyres. ₂₈They told all the people who had to sing to come together from all the towns around Jerusalem and from the town of Netophah, ₂₉from Beth-Gilgal and from the fields around Geba and Azmaveth. The people who had to sing built homes around Jerusalem to live in.

₃₀The priests and the Levites purified themselves. Then they also purified the other people and the gates and walls. ₃₁I told the leaders_of_Judah to climb onto the wall. They had to stand in 2 big groups to sing. One group had to walk on the wall to the south towards the Dung Gate. ₃₂Hoshaiah and half of the leaders_of_Judah followed them and walked behind them, ₃₃and so did Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ₃₄Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah and Jeremiah. ₃₅The priests who blew the trumpets walked behind them. They were Zechariah, son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zakkur, son of Asaph ₃₆and the priests Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah and Hanani. They played the musical_instruments that David, the man of God, had told them to play. Ezra, the secretary, walked in front of them. ₃₇At the Fountain Gate they went straight to the stairs of the City of David, where the wall went past the house of David to the Water Gate on the eastern side.

₃₈The other group of people who had to sing walked to the other side. The other half of the people and I walked behind them on the wall over the Oven Tower to the Wide Wall, ₃₉over the Ephraim Gate and the Old Gate, the Fish Gate, the Hananel Tower and the Tower of 100 Soldiers to the Sheep Gate and they stopped at the Gate of the Guard. ₄₀Then the 2 groups who had to sing went into the temple. I was also standing there and half of the leaders were with me. ₄₁The priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah and Hananiah blew the trumpets, ₄₂with Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malkijah, Elam and Ezer. Jezrahiah was the leader of the choir and they sang. ₄₃The people gave a lot of offerings on that day. They were happy because God had made them very happy. The women and children were all there. People who were standing far away could hear how the people of Jerusalem were celebrating.

₄₄On that day they chose leaders to guard the store rooms, the rooms where they kept the gifts and the first wheat and barley and vegetables and the 10th offerings. They also kept the food for the priests and Levites in the store rooms. The laws said that the priests and the Levites should get the things that were in those rooms. The people of Judah were happy to give their gifts to the priests and Levites. ₄₅The priests worked for God and they purified the people. The people who had to sing and the gatekeepers did their work like David and Solomon, his son, had told them to do. ₄₆Long before, in the time of King David and Asaph, there had been a leader for the people who had to sing to praise God and thank Him. ₄₇When Zerubbabel and Nehemiah were governors, all the Israelites looked after the people who had to sing and the gatekeepers. They consecrated the holy_gifts for the Levites and the Levites consecrated the part that the priests got.