List of priests and Levites
12
📚Now these are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel 📖 the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua 📖: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, 2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, 3 Shechaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, 4 📚Iddo, Ginnetho, Abijah, 5 Miamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, 6 📚Shemaiah and Joiarib, Jedaiah, 7 📚Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the chief of the priests and of their brethren in the days of Jeshua. 8 📚And the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving, he and his brethren. 9 📚Also Bakbukiah and Unni, their brethren, stood opposite 📖 them in the services.
10 📚And Jeshua begot Joiakim, Joiakim also begot Eliashib, and Eliashib begot Joiada, 11 and Joiada begot Jonathan, and Jonathan begot Jaddua.
12 📚And in the days of Joiakim the priests, the heads of the fathers’ households were these: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah; 13 of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan; 14 of Melicu, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph; 15 of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai; 16 of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam; 17 of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai; 18 of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan; 19 of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi; 20 of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber; 21 of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethaneel.
22 📚The Levites who were the heads of the fathers’ households in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, and the priests, were recorded in the reign of Darius the Persian.
12:22 Darius II reigned over the Persian empire 423 - 404 B.C.⚜
23 📚The sons of Levi, the heads of the fathers’ households, were written in the Book of the Chronicles 📖, until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib. 24 📚And the heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brethren who stood opposite them, to praise and to give thanks, in accordance with the command of David the man of God, one group responding to the group opposite.
25 📚Mattaniah and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers keeping guard at the storerooms of the gates. 26 📚These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest, the scribe.
Dedication of the wall of Jerusalem
27 📚And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication 📖 with joy, with thanksgiving and with singing with cymbals, lyres and harps. 28 📚And the sons of the singers gathered together from the countryside around Jerusalem, and from the villages of Netophathi, 29 📚and from Beth-Gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth; for the singers had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem. 30 📚And the priests and the Levites purified themselves and purified the people, and the gates and the wall.
31 📚Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall, and appointed two large thanksgiving 📖 choirs, one of which went to the right on the wall toward the Refuse Gate, 32 and after them went Hoshaiah, and half of the leaders of Judah, 33 📚and Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam, 34 Judah and Benjamin and Shemaiah and Jeremiah, 35 📚and some of the priests’ sons with trumpets 📖, namely, Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Michaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph, 36 📚and his brethren, Shemaiah and Azarael, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethaneel and Judah, Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God, and Ezra the scribe leading them. 37 📚And at the Fountain Gate, in front of them, they went up the steps of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, beyond the house of David, to the Water Gate on the east.
38 📚And the other thanksgiving choir went the opposite way, and I and half of the people on the wall followed them, past the Tower of the Ovens to the broad wall, 39 📚and over the Gate of Ephraim and over the Old Gate and over the Fish Gate and passed the Tower of Hananeel and the Tower of Meah to the Sheep Gate; and they stopped by the Gate of the Guardhouse.
40 📚So the two thanksgiving choirs stood in the house of God, and I, and half of the rulers with me, 41 and the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Michaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah and Hananiah, with trumpets, 42 📚and Maaseiah and Shemaiah and Eleazar and Uzzi and Jehohanan and Malchijah and Elam and Ezer. And the singers sang loudly, with Jezrahiah their director. 43 📚Also that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God caused them to rejoice with great joy. The wives and the children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.
12:43 2 Chron 7:10; 29:36. True joy is a gift of God, not something men find by their own efforts. It is related to a realization of God’s goodness, a recognition of His gracious acts, and obedience to God’s revealed will, and His Spirit in our hearts.⚜
Temple offerings and services
44 📚And at that time some were appointed over the storehouse rooms for the offerings, for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions commanded by the law for the priests and Levites. For Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites who served. 45 📚And both the singers and the gatekeepers performed the service of their God, and the rite of purification, in accordance with the command of David and his son Solomon. 46 📚For in olden times, in the days of David and Asaph, there were leaders of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. 47 📚And in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, all Israel gave the portions for the singers and the gatekeepers, a portion for each day. They also set apart portions for the Levites, and the Levites set apart portions for the children of Aaron.