Nehemiah 7

Arrangements to protect Jerusalem

Now it came about, when the wall was built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites had been appointed, 2 that I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the commander of the citadel, charge over Jerusalem, for he was a faithful man, and feared God more than many do.

7:2 Nehemiah’s choice of his brother was not nepotism – not the choice of a relative regardless of whether he had the proper qualifications. That sort of thing Nehemiah would rightly have rejected with disgust. Hananiah had two essential qualities for anyone in a responsible position in God’s work – integrity and the fear of God, and for this reason he was chosen.⚜

3 And I said to them, “Do not let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot. And while the gatekeepers are standing by, let them shut the doors and bar them. And appoint guards from the inhabitants of Jerusalem, each at his post, and each in front of his house”.

Nehemiah discovers the list of the returned exiles

4 Now the city was large and spacious, but the people in it were few, and the houses were not built. 5 And my God put into my heart to assemble the nobles and the rulers and the people, so that they might be registered by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of those who first came up, and found this written in it:

6 These are the children of the province who came up out of the captivity, among the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had taken away, and who returned to Jerusalem and to Judah, each one to his city, 7 coming with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number of men of the people of Israel was this:

8 The children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two.

9 The children of Shephatiah, three hundred and seventy-two.

10 The children of Arah, six hundred and fifty-two.

11 The children of Pahath-Moab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and eighteen.

12 The children of Elam, a thousand two hundred and fifty-four.

13 The children of Zattu, eight hundred and forty-five.

14 The children of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty.

15 The children of Binnui, six hundred and forty-eight.

16 The children of Bebai, six hundred and twenty-eight.

17 The children of Azgad, two thousand three hundred and twenty-two.

18 The children of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-seven.

19 The children of Bigvai, two thousand and sixty-seven.

20 The children of Adin, six hundred and fifty-five.

21 The children of Ater of Hezekiah, ninety-eight.

22 The children of Hashum, three hundred and twenty-eight.

23 The children of Bezai, three hundred and twenty-four.

24 The children of Hariph, a hundred and twelve.

25 The children of Gibeon, ninety-five.

26 The men of Bethlehem and Netophah, a hundred eighty-eight.

27 The men of Anathoth, a hundred and twenty-eight.

28 The men of Beth-Azmaveth, forty-two.

29 The men of Kirjath-Jearim, Kephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty-three.

30 The men of Ramah and Gaba, six hundred and twenty-one.

31 The men of Michmas, a hundred and twenty-two.

32 The men of Bethel and Ai, a hundred and twenty-three.

33 The men of the other Nebo, fifty-two.

34 The children of the other Elam, a thousand two hundred and fifty-four.

35 The children of Harim, three hundred and twenty.

36 The children of Jericho, three hundred and forty-five.

37 The children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred and twenty-one.

38 The children of Senaah, three thousand nine hundred and thirty.

39 The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three.

40 The children of Immer, a thousand and fifty-two.

41 The children of Pashur, a thousand two hundred and forty-seven.

42 The children of Harim, a thousand and seventeen.

43 The Levites: the children of Jeshua, of Kadmiel, and of the children of Hodevah, seventy-four.

44 The singers: the children of Asaph, a hundred and forty-eight.

45 The gatekeepers: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, a hundred and thirty-eight.

46 The Nethinims: the children of Ziha, the children of Hashupha, the children of Tabbaoth, 47 the children of Keros, the children of Sia, the children of Padon, 48 the children of Lebana, the children of Hagaba, the children of Shalmai, 49 the children of Hanan, the children of Giddel, the children of Gahar, 50 the children of Reaiah, the children of Rezin, the children of Nekoda, 51 the children of Gazzam, the children of Uzza, the children of Phaseah, 52 the children of Besai, the children of Meunim, the children of Nephishesim, 53 the children of Bakbuk, the children of Hakupha, the children of Harhur, 54 the children of Bazlith, the children of Mehida, the children of Harsha, 55 the children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Tamah, 56 the children of Neziah, the children of Hatipha.

57 The children of Solomon’s servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Perida, 58 the children of Jaala, the children of Darkon, the children of Giddel, 59 the children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth of Zebaim, the children of Amon.

60 All the Nethinims, including the children of Solomon’s servants, were three hundred and ninety-two.

61 And these were those who also came up from Tel-Melah, Tel-Haresha, Kerub, Addon, and Immer, but they could not show their father’s household, or their descendants, whether they were of Israel: 62 the children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred and forty-two.

63 And of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai, who married one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name.

64 These sought their records among those who were registered by genealogy, but they were not found. Therefore they were expelled from the priesthood, as unclean. 65 And the governor told them not to eat of the most holy things, until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim.

66 The whole congregation together was forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty, 67 besides their male and female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven. And they had two hundred and forty-five men and women singers.

68 Their horses were seven hundred and thirty-six. Their mules were two hundred and forty-five. 69 Their camels were four hundred and thirty-five. They had six thousand seven hundred and twenty donkeys.

70 And some of the heads of the fathers’ households gave for the work. The governor gave into the treasury a thousand gold drachmas, fifty basins, and five hundred and thirty priestly garments. 71 And some of the heads of the fathers’ households gave into the treasury for the work twenty thousand gold drachmas, and two thousand two hundred silver minas. 72 And what the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand gold drachmas and two thousand silver minas, and sixty-seven priestly garments.

73 So the priests and the Levites and the gatekeepers and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinims, and all Israel, lived in their cities. And when the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities.