Nehemiah 12
12 1Now these are the priests and the Levites that went up with
Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,
2Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,
3Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,
4Iddo,
Ginnethoi, Abijah,
5Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,
6Shemaiah, and Joiarib,
Jedaiah.
7Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the chiefs of the
priests and of their brethren in the days of Jeshua.
8Moreover the
Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah,
who was over the thanksgiving, he and his brethren.
9Also Bakbukiah and
Unno, their brethren, were over against them according to their offices.
10And Jeshua begat Joiakim, and Joiakim begat Eliashib, and Eliashib
begat Joiada,
11and Joiada begat Jonathan, and Jonathan begat Jaddua.
12And in the days of Joiakim were priests, heads of fathers'
houses: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;
13of Ezra,
Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan;
14of Malluchi, Jonathan; of Shebaniah,
Joseph;
15of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai;
16of Iddo, Zechariah;
of Ginnethon, Meshullam;
17of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah,
Piltai;
18of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan;
19and of
Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi;
20of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber;
21of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.
22As for the Levites,
in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, there were recorded
the heads of fathers' houses; also the priests, in the reign of
Darius the Persian.
23The sons of Levi, heads of fathers' houses,
were written in the book of the chronicles, even until the days of Johanan
the son of Eliashib.
24And the chiefs of the Levites: Hashabiah,
Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brethren over against
them, to praise and give thanks, according to the commandment of David the
man of God, watch next to watch.
25Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah,
Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were porters keeping the watch at the store-houses
of the gates.
26These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the
son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the
priest the scribe.
27And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they
sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to
keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing,
with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps.
28And the sons of the singers
gathered themselves together, both out of the plain round about Jerusalem,
and from the villages of the Netophathites;
29also from Beth-gilgal, and
out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the singers had builded them
villages round about Jerusalem.
30And the priests and the Levites
purified themselves; and they purified the people, and the gates, and the
wall.
31Then I brought up the princes of Judah upon the wall, and
appointed two great companies that gave thanks and went in procession;
whereof one went on the right hand upon the wall toward the dung
gate:
32and after them went Hoshaiah, and half of the princes of Judah,
33and Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam,
34Judah, and Benjamin, and
Shemaiah, and Jeremiah,
35and certain of the priests' sons with trumpets:
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;
36and his brethren,
Shemaiah, and Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, and Judah, Hanani,
with the musical instruments of David the man of God; and Ezra the scribe was
before them.
37And by the fountain gate, and straight before them, they
went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above
the house of David, even unto the water gate eastward.
38And the other
company of them that gave thanks went to meet them, and I after them, with
the half of the people, upon the wall, above the tower of the furnaces, even
unto the broad wall,
39and above the gate of Ephraim, and by the old
gate, and by the fish gate, and the tower of Hananel, and the tower of
Hammeah, even unto the sheep gate: and they stood still in the gate of the
guard.
40So stood the two companies of them that gave thanks in the house
of God, and I, and the half of the rulers with me;
41and the priests,
Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with
trumpets;
42and Maaseiah, and Shemaiah, and Eleazar, and Uzzi, and
Jehohanan, and Malchijah, and Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang loud, with
Jezrahiah their overseer.
43And they offered great sacrifices that day,
and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy; and the women
also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even
afar off.
44And on that day were men appointed over the chambers for the
treasures, for the heave-offerings, for the first-fruits, and for the tithes,
to gather into them, according to the fields of the cities, the portions
appointed by the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the
priests and for the Levites that waited.
45And they kept the charge of
their God, and the charge of the purification, and so did the singers
and the porters, according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his
son.
46For in the days of David and Asaph of old there was a chief of the
singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.
47And all Israel
in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of
the singers and the porters, as every day required: and they set apart
that which was for the Levites; and the Levites set apart that
which was for the sons of Aaron.