Néhémie 12

Priests and Levites who came up with Zerubbabel and Jeshua

¹These are the priests and Levites who came up with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, ²Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, ³Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, ⁴Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, ⁵Mijamin, Moadiah, Bilgah, ⁶Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah, ⁷Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah. These were the leaders of the priests and their relatives in the days of Jeshua.

The Levites, and the heads of families in later days

⁸The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who with his brothers was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving. ⁹Bakbukiah and Unni, their fellow Levites, stood opposite them as they served. ¹⁰Jeshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim the father of Eliashib, Eliashib the father of Joiada, ¹¹Joiada the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan the father of Jaddua.^{a 12}In the days of Joiakim, these priests were heads of their families: for Seraiah, Meraiah; for Jeremiah, Hananiah; ¹³for Ezra, Meshullam; for Amariah, Jehohanan; ¹⁴for Mellichu, Jonathan; for Shebaniah, Joseph; ¹⁵for Harim, Adna; for Meraioth, Helkai; ¹⁶for Iddo, Zechariah; for Ginnethon, Meshullam; ¹⁷for Abijah, Zikri; for Miniamin and for Moadiah, Piltai;^{b 18}for Bilgah, Shammua; for Shemaiah, Jehonathan; ¹⁹and for Joiarib, Mattenai; for Jedaiah, Uzzi; ²⁰for Sallai, Kallai; for Amok, Eber; ²¹for Hilkiah, Hashabiah; and for Jedaiah, Nethanel. ²²In the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan and Jaddua, the Levites were recorded by the heads of their fathers’ houses, and so were the priests, up to the reign of Darius the Persian.^c

²³The descendants of Levi, the heads of fathers’ houses, were recorded in the Book of the Chronicles, up to the days of Johanan son of Eliashib. ²⁴The leaders of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua son of Kadmiel. Their fellow Levites stood opposite them to praise and give thanks, one group answering the other, as David the man of God had commanded.^{d 25}Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers who stood guard at the storerooms by the gates. ²⁶These served in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and of Ezra the priest and scribe.

The dedication of the wall of Jerusalem

²⁷At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from all the places where they lived and brought to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with joy, with songs of thanksgiving, and with the music of cymbals, harps, and lyres. ²⁸And the sons of the singers gathered, both from the district around Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophathites, ²⁹and from Beth-gilgal and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, because the singers had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem. ³⁰The priests and the Levites purified themselves, and then they purified the people, the gates, and the wall. ³¹And I brought the officials of Judah up on top of the wall, and I appointed two great thanksgiving choirs to walk in procession. One went to the right on top of the wall, toward the Dung Gate.^{e 32}Behind them walked Hoshaiah and half of the officials of Judah, ³³with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah,

³⁵and some of the priests with trumpets. Then came Zechariah son of Jonathan son of Shemaiah son of Mattaniah son of Micaiah son of Zaccur son of Asaph, ³⁶and his brothers Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God. Ezra the scribe walked in front of them. ³⁷At the Fountain Gate they went straight up the steps of the City of David, where the wall goes up, above the house of David, and on to the Water Gate on the east. ³⁸The second choir went the opposite way, and I followed it with half of the people, on top of the wall, past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall, ³⁹and above the Ephraim Gate, past the Jeshanah Gate and the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate. And they stopped at the Gate of the Guard.^{f 40}So the two choirs that gave thanks took their places in the house of God. So did I, with half of the officials, ⁴¹and the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets, ⁴²and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malkijah, Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang out loud, with Izrahiah as their leader. ⁴³That day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, because God had given them great joy. The women and children rejoiced too, and the joy of Jerusalem could be heard far away. ⁴⁴And on that day men were appointed over the chambers for the stores, for the contributions, for the firstfruits and for the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the towns the portions required by the law for the priests and for the Levites; for Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who stood to serve. ⁴⁵They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, and so did the singers and the gatekeepers, as David and his son Solomon had commanded. ⁴⁶For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there were leaders of the singers, and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. ⁴⁷In the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah, all Israel gave the singers and the gatekeepers their daily portions. They set apart what was due to the Levites, and the Levites set apart what was due to the descendants of Aaron.