Nehemiah 12

1 These are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, 2 Amariah, Malluch, 3 Shecaniah. [a] 7 These were the leaders of the priests, and their brothers, in the days of Jeshua.

8 And the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, Mattaniah. He and his brothers were over the hands, 9 for the daily divisions. [b]

10 And Jeshua fathered Joakim, and Joakim fathered Eliashib, and Eliashib fathered Joiada, 11 and Joiada fathered Jonathan, and Jonathan fathered Jaddua. [c]

12 And in the days of Joakim, his brothers the priests and the leaders of the fathers’ houses were these: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah; 13 of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Johanan; 14 of Malluch, Jonathan; of Shecaniah, Joseph; 15 of Harim, Adnah; of Meraioth, Helkai; 16 of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam;

17 of Abijah, Zichri; of Benjamin, at the appointed times; of Pelet; [d] 18 of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jonathan; 19 of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi; 20 of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Abed; 21 of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel. [e]

22 The Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada and Johanan and Jaddua, were written down as leaders of fathers’ houses, and so were the priests, in the reign of Darius the Persian. [f] 23 The sons of Levi, the leaders of the fathers’ houses, were written down in the book of the daily record, as far as the days of Johanan son of Eliashib. [g]

24 And the leaders of the Levites: Hashabiah and Sherebiah and Jeshua, and the sons of Kadmiel, and their brothers facing them, to sing hymns and to give praise, by the command of David the man of God, division by division — 25 when I gathered the gatekeepers, [h] 26 in the days of Joakim son of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah; and Ezra the priest was the scribe.

27 And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they looked for the Levites in the places where they lived, to bring them to Jerusalem to keep the dedication and a day of gladness, with thanksgiving and with songs, sounding cymbals, with harps and lyres. [i] 28 And the sons of the singers were gathered together, both from the country around Jerusalem and from the villages, 29 and from the fields; for the singers had built themselves villages at Jerusalem. 30 And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people, and the gatekeepers, and the wall.

31 And I brought up the leaders of Judah onto the wall, and I set two great companies of praise in place; and the one went to the right, along the top of the wall, toward the Dung Gate, [j] 32 and after them went Hoshaiah and half the leaders of Judah, 33 and Azariah, Ezra and Meshullam, 34 Judah and Benjamin and Shemaiah and Jeremiah, 35 and some of the sons of the priests with trumpets: Zechariah son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph, 36 and his brothers Shemaiah and Uzziel, to give praise with the songs of David the man of God; and Ezra the scribe was in front of them. [k] 37 At the Fountain Gate, straight ahead of them, they went up the steps of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, and as far as the Water Gate on the east. [l]

38 And the second company of praise went the opposite way, to meet them, and I came behind it, and half the people, along the top of the wall above the Tower of the Ovens and as far as the broad wall, [m] 39 and above the Gate of Ephraim, and by the Old Gate, and by the Fish Gate, and the Tower of Hananel, and as far as the Sheep Gate; and they halted at the Gate of the Guard. [n] 40 And the two companies of praise took their stand in the house of God, and I with them, and half the commanders with me, 41 and the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Benjamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, Hananiah, with trumpets, 42 and Maaseiah and Shemaiah and Eleazar and Uzzi and Johanan and Malchijah and Elam and Ezer. And the singers made themselves heard, and they were counted. [o] 43 And on that day they sacrificed great sacrifices and were glad, for God had made them very glad; and their wives and their children were glad too, and the gladness of Jerusalem was heard far away.

44 And on that day they appointed men over the treasuries — for the stores, the firstfruits and the tenths, and for the rulers of the cities gathered with them: the shares for the priests and for the Levites. For there was gladness in Judah over the priests and over the Levites who stood in service. [p] 45 And they kept the charge of their God and the charge of the purification, and had charge of the singers and the gatekeepers, according to the commands of David and Solomon his son. [q] 46 For in the days of David, Asaph was from the beginning the first of the singers, and there was a hymn and praise to God. 47 And all Israel, in the days of Zerubbabel, gave the shares of the singers and the gatekeepers, the amount due for each day; and they made holy what went to the Levites, and the Levites made holy what went to the sons of Aaron. [r]