Nehemiah 7-8
Complete Jewish Bible
7 After the wall had been rebuilt, and I had set up its doors, and the gatekeepers, singers and L’vi’im had been appointed, 2 I put my kinsman Hanani in charge of Yerushalayim, along with Hananyah the commander of the citadel. For he was a faithful man, and he feared God more than most. 3 I said to them, “The gates of Yerushalayim are not to be opened until the sun is hot; and while the gatekeepers are still on duty, have them shut the doors; and you, put up the bars. Appoint watchmen from among those living in Yerushalayim; assign each one his time to guard, and have each one serving near his own house.”
4 The city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not been rebuilt. 5 My God put it in my heart to assemble the nobles, the leaders and the people, so that they could be registered according to their genealogies. I located the record of the genealogies of those who had come up at the beginning and found written in it:
6 “Here is a list of the people of the province who had been exiled, carried off to Bavel by N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel, but who later returned from exile and went up to Yerushalayim and Y’hudah, each to his own city; 7 they went with Z’rubavel, Yeshua, Nechemyah, ‘Azaryah, Ra‘amyah, Nachmani, Mordekhai, Bilshan, Misperet, Bigvai, N’chum and Ba‘anah.
“The number of men from the people of Isra’el:
8 descendants of Par‘osh | 2,172 |
9 descendants of Sh’fatyah | 372 |
10 descendants of Arach | 652 |
11 descendants of Pachat-Mo’av, | |
from the descendants of Yeshua and Yo’av | 2,818 |
12 descendants of ‘Eilam | 1,254 |
13 descendants of Zatu | 845 |
14 descendants of Zakkai | 760 |
15 descendants of Binui | 648 |
16 descendants of B’vai | 628 |
17 descendants of ‘Azgad | 2,322 |
18 descendants of Adonikam | 667 |
19 descendants of Bigvai | 2,067 |
20 descendants of ‘Adin | 655 |
21 descendants of Ater, of Y’chizkiyah | 98 |
22 descendants of Hashum | 328 |
23 descendants of Betzai | 324 |
24 descendants of Harif | 112 |
25 descendants of Giv‘on | 95 |
26 people of Beit-Lechem and N’tofah | 188 |
27 people of ‘Anatot | 128 |
28 people of Beit-‘Azmavet | 42 |
29 people of Kiryat-Ye‘arim, K’firah and Be’erot | 743 |
30 people of Ramah and Geva | 621 |
31 people of Mikhmas | 122 |
32 people of Beit-El and ‘Ai | 123 |
33 people from the other N’vo | 52 |
34 people from the other ‘Eilam | 1,254 |
35 descendants of Harim | 320 |
36 descendants of Yericho | 345 |
37 descendants of Lod, Hadid and Ono | 721 |
38 descendants of S’na’ah | 3,930 |
39 “The cohanim:
descendants of Y’da‘yah, of the house of Yeshua | 973 |
40 descendants of Immer | 1,052 |
41 descendants of Pash’chur | 1,247 |
42 descendants of Harim | 1,017 |
43 “The L’vi’im:
descendants of Yeshua, of Kadmi’el, | |
of the descendants of Hodvah | 74 |
44 “The singers: |
descendants of Asaf | 148 |
45 “The gatekeepers: |
descendants of Shalum, | |
descendants of Ater, | |
descendants of Talmon, | |
descendants of ‘Akuv, | |
descendants of Hatita, and | |
descendants of Shovai | 138 |
46 “The temple servants: |
descendants of Tzicha, |
descendants of Hasufa, |
descendants of Taba‘ot, |
47 descendants of Keros, |
descendants of Si‘a, |
descendants of Padon, |
48 descendants of L’vanah, |
descendants of Hagava, |
descendants of Salmai, |
49 descendants of Hanan, |
descendants of Giddel, |
descendants of Gachar, |
50 descendants of Re’ayah, |
descendants of Retzin, |
descendants of N’koda, |
51 descendants of Gazam, |
descendants of ‘Uza, |
descendants of Paseach, |
52 descendants of Besai, |
descendants of Me‘unim, |
descendants of N’fish’sim, |
53 descendants of Bakbuk, |
descendants of Hakufa, |
descendants of Harhur, |
54 descendants of Batzlit, |
descendants of M’chida, |
descendants of Harsha, |
55 descendants of Barkos, |
descendants of Sisra, |
descendants of Temach, |
56 descendants of N’tziach, and |
descendants of Hatifa. |
57 “The descendants of Shlomo’s servants: |
descendants of Sotai, |
descendants of Soferet, |
descendants of P’rida, |
58 descendants of Ya‘lah, |
descendants of Darkon, |
descendants of Giddel, |
59 descendants of Sh’fatyah, |
descendants of Hatil, |
descendants of Pokheret-Hatzvayim, and |
descendants of Amon. |
60 “All the temple servants and the | |
descendants of Shlomo’s servants numbered | 392 |
61 “The following went up from Tel-Melach, Tel-Harsha, K’ruv, Adon and Immer; but they could not state which fathers’ clan they and their children belonged to, [so it was not clear] whether they were from Isra’el:
62 descendants of D’layah, | |
descendants of Toviyah, and | |
descendants of N’koda | 642 |
63 and of the cohanim:
descendants of Havayah, |
descendants of Hakotz, and |
descendants of Barzillai, who took a wife from the
daughters of Barzillai the Gil‘adi and was named after them.
64 “These tried to locate their geneaolgical records, but they weren’t found. Therefore they were considered defiled and were not allowed to serve as cohanim. 65 The Tirshata told them not to eat any of the especially holy food until a cohen appeared who could consult the urim and tumim.
66 “The entire assembly numbered 42,360, 67 not including their male and female slaves, of whom there were 7,337. They also had 245 male and female singers. 68 Their horses numbered 736; their mules, 245; * 69 their camels, 435; and their donkeys, 6,720.
70 “Some from among the heads of fathers’ clans made contributions for the work. The Tirshata contributed to the treasury a thousand gold darkmonim [twenty-one pounds], fifty basins and 530 tunics for the cohanim. 71 Some of the heads of fathers’ clans gave into the treasury for the work 20,000 gold darkmonim [420 pounds] and 2,200 silver manim [one-and-a-third tons]. 72 The rest of the people gave 20,000 gold darkmonim, 2,000 silver manim [about one-and-a-quarter tons] and sixty-seven tunics for the cohanim.
73 “So the cohanim, the L’vi’im, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants and all Isra’el lived in their towns.”
(8:1) When the seventh month arrived, after the people of Isra’el had resettled in their towns,
8 all the people gathered with one accord in the open space in front of the Water Gate and asked ‘Ezra the Torah-teacher to bring the scroll of the Torah of Moshe, which Adonai had commanded Isra’el. 2 ‘Ezra the cohen brought the Torah before the assembly, which consisted of men, women and all children old enough to understand. It was the first day of the seventh month. 3 Facing the open space in front of the Water Gate, he read from it to the men, the women and the children who could understand from early morning until noon; and all the people listened attentively to the scroll of the Torah. 4 ‘Ezra the Torah-teacher stood on a wood platform which they had made for the purpose; beside him on his right stood Mattityah, Shema, ‘Anayah, Uriyah, Hilkiyah and Ma‘aseiyah; while on his left were P’dayah, Misha’el, Malkiyah, Hashum, Hashbadanah, Z’kharyah and Meshulam. 5 ‘Ezra opened the scroll where all the people could see him, because he was higher than all the people; when he opened it, all the people rose to their feet. 6 ‘Ezra blessed Adonai, the great God; and all the people answered, “Amen! Amen!” as they lifted up their hands, bowed their heads and fell prostrate before Adonai with their faces to the ground. 7 The L’vi’im Yeshua, Bani, Sherevyah, Yamin, ‘Akuv, Shabtai, Hodiyah, Ma‘aseiyah, K’lita, ‘Azaryah, Yozavad, Hanan and P’layah explained the Torah to the people, while the people remained in their places. 8 They read clearly from the scroll, in the Torah of God, translated it, and enabled them to understand the sense of what was being read.
9 Nechemyah the Tirshata, ‘Ezra the cohen and Torah-teacher and the L’vi’im who taught the people said to all the people, “Today is consecrated to Adonai your God; don’t be mournful, don’t weep.” For all the people had been weeping when they heard the words of the Torah. 10 Then he said to them, “Go, eat rich food, drink sweet drinks, and send portions to those who can’t provide for themselves; for today is consecrated to our Lord. Don’t be sad, because the joy of Adonai is your strength.” 11 In this way the L’vi’im quieted the people, as they said, “Be quiet, for today is holy; don’t be sad.” 12 Then the people went off to eat, drink, send portions and celebrate; because they had understood the words that had been proclaimed to them.
13 On the second day, the heads of fathers’ clans of all the people assembled with the cohanim and L’vi’im before ‘Ezra the Torah-teacher to study the words of the Torah. 14 They found written in the Torah that Adonai had ordered through Moshe that the people of Isra’el were to live in sukkot during the feast of the seventh month; 15 and that they were to announce and pass the word in all their cities and in Yerushalayim, “Go out to the mountains, and collect branches of olives, wild olives, myrtles, palms, and other leafy trees to make sukkot, as prescribed.” 16 So the people went out, brought them and made sukkot for themselves, each one on the roof of his house, also in their courtyards, in the courtyards of the house of God, in the open space by the Water Gate and in the open space by the Efrayim Gate. 17 The entire community of those who had returned from the exile made sukkot and lived in the sukkot, for the people of Isra’el had not done this since the days of Yeshua the son of Nun. So there was very great joy. 18 Also they read every day, from the first day until the last day, in the scroll of the Torah of God. They kept the feast for seven days; then on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.