²⁶ These men worked in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the ruler and of Ezra the religious leader and writer.

Nehemiah Sets Apart the Jerusalem Wall for God

²⁷ At the special time to praise God for the wall of Jerusalem, they looked for all the Levites in the places where they lived and brought them to Jerusalem so they might join them at this special time with happiness. They sang songs of thanks and other songs as timbrels and harps were played. ²⁸ So the sons of the singers were gathered from the land around Jerusalem, from the villages of the Nethophathites,