Nehemiah 12

EJ2000^{(i) 1} ¶ Now these are the priests and the Levites that came up with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel and with Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, ² Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, ³ Shechaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, ⁴ Iddo, Ginnetho, Abijah, ⁵ Miamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, ⁶ Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah, ⁷ Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah. These were the princes of the priests and of their brethren in the days of Jeshua. ⁸ And the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who with his brethren officiated in the songs of praise. ⁹ Also Bakbukiah and Unni, their brethren, were before them in the watches. ¹⁰ And Jeshua begat Joiakim, Joiakim begat Eliashib, and Eliashib begat Joiada, ¹¹ Joiada begat Jonathan, and Jonathan begat Jaddua. ¹² And in the days of Joiakim the priests, the heads of the families were 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 in the days of Eliashib, of Joiada and of Johanan and of Jaddua, were recorded as heads of families; also the priests, until the reign of Darius, the Persian. ²³ The sons of Levi, heads of families, were written in the book of the chronicles, until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib. ²⁴ The heads of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua, the son of Kadmiel, and their brethren before them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the statute of David, the man of God, keeping each one their ward. ²⁵ Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were porters keeping the ward at the thresholds 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 captain, and of Ezra, the priest and scribe. ²⁷ ¶ And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgiving and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps. ²⁸ And the sons of the singers were gathered together, both out of the plain country round about Jerusalem and from the villages of Netophathi; ²⁹ also from the house of Gilgal and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth; for the singers had built themselves villages round about Jerusalem. ³⁰ And the priests and the Levites purified themselves and purified the people and the gates and the wall. ³¹ Then I brought up the princes of Judah upon the wall and appointed two great choirs which went in procession, one went on the right hand upon the wall toward the dung gate. ³² And after them went Hoshaiah and half of the princes of Judah, ³³ and Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴ Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah; ³⁵ and certain 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, Azarael, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethaneel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David, the man of God, and Ezra, the scribe, before them. ³⁷ And at the fountain gate, which was over against them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the going up of the wall, from the house of David unto the water gate eastward. ³⁸ And the second choir went over against them, and I after them with half of the people upon the wall, from the tower of the furnaces even unto the broad wall, ³⁹ and from the gate of Ephraim, to the old gate, and to the fish gate, to the tower of Hananeel, and the tower of Meah, unto the sheep gate; and they stood still in the gate of the guards. ⁴⁰ Then the two 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, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang loud, with Jezrahiah their overseer. ⁴³ Also that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women also and the children rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off. ⁴⁴ ¶ And at that time men were appointed over the chambers of the treasures, of the offerings, of the firstfruits, and of the tithes, to gather into them out of the fields of the cities the legal portions for the priests and the Levites; for the joy of Judah was upon the priests and the Levites that served. ⁴⁵ And they kept the ward of their God and the ward of the purification, and the singers and the porters, according to the statute of David and of Solomon, his son. ⁴⁶ For from the time of David and Asaph of old there were princes of the singers, and songs and praise and thanksgiving unto God. ⁴⁷ And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the porters, each thing in its day; and they sanctified them unto the Levites; and the Levites sanctified them unto the sons of Aaron.