NAS - Nehemiah Chapter 6 to 7

6 The Enemy's Plot

¹Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, to Geshem the Arab and to the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall, and that no breach remained in it, although at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates, ²then Sanballat and Geshem sent a message to me, saying, "Come, let us meet together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono." But they were planning to harm me. ³So I sent messengers to them, saying, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?" ⁴They sent messages to me four times in this manner, and I answered them in the same way. ⁵Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same manner a fifth time with an open letter in his hand. ⁶In it was written, "It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel; therefore you are rebuilding the wall. And you are to be their king, according to these reports. ⁷"You have also appointed prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem concerning you, `A king is in Judah!' And now it will be reported to the king according to these reports. So come now, let us take counsel together." ⁸Then I sent a message to him saying, "Such things as you are saying have not been done, but you are inventing them in your own mind." ⁹For all of them were trying to frighten us, thinking, "They will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done." But now, O God, strengthen my hands.

¹⁰When I entered the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined at home, he said, "Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you, and they are coming to kill you at night." ¹¹But I said, "Should a man like me flee? And could one such as I go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in." ¹²Then I perceived that surely God had not sent him, but he uttered his prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. ¹³He was hired for this reason, that I might become frightened and act accordingly and sin, so that they might have an evil report in order that they could reproach me. ¹⁴Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the rest of the prophets who were trying to frighten me.

The Wall Is Finished

¹⁵So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. ¹⁶When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. ¹⁷Also in those days many letters went from the nobles of Judah to Tobiah, and Tobiah's letters came to them. ¹⁸For many in Judah were bound by oath to him because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. ¹⁹Moreover, they were speaking about his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. Then Tobiah sent letters to frighten me.

7 Census of First Returned Exiles

¹Now when the wall was rebuilt and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites were appointed, ²then I put Hanani my brother, and Hananiah the commander of the fortress, in charge of Jerusalem, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many. ³Then I said to them, "Do not let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot, and while they are standing guard, let them shut and bolt the doors. Also appoint guards from the inhabitants of Jerusalem, each at his post, and each in front of his own house." ⁴Now the city was large and spacious, but the people in it were few and the houses were not built.

⁵Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogies. Then I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up first in which I found the following record:

⁶These are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city, ⁷who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah.

The number of men of the people of Israel: ⁸the sons of Parosh, 2,172; ⁹the sons of Shephatiah, 372; ¹⁰the sons of Arah, 652; ¹¹the sons of Pahath-moab of the sons of Jeshua and Joab, 2,818; ¹²the sons of Elam, 1,254; ¹³the sons of Zattu, 845; ¹⁴the sons of Zaccai, 760; ¹⁵the sons of Binnui, 648; ¹⁶the sons of Bebai, 628; ¹⁷the sons of Azgad, 2,322; ¹⁸the sons of Adonikam, 667; ¹⁹the sons of Bigvai, 2,067; ²⁰the sons of Adin, 655; ²¹the sons of Ater, of Hezekiah, 98; ²²the sons of Hashum, 328; ²³the sons of Bezai, 324; ²⁴the sons of Hariph, 112; ²⁵the sons of Gibeon, 95; ²⁶the men of Bethlehem and Netophah, 188; ²⁷the men of Anathoth, 128; ²⁸the men of Beth-azmaveth, 42; ²⁹the men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah and Beeroth, 743; ³⁰the men of Ramah and Geba, 621; ³¹the men of Michmas, 122; ³²the men of Bethel and Ai, 123; ³³the men of the other Nebo, 52; ³⁴the sons of the other Elam, 1,254; ³⁵the sons of Harim, 320; ³⁶the men of Jericho, 345; ³⁷the sons of Lod, Hadid and Ono, 721; ³⁸the sons of Senaah, 3,930.

³⁹The priests: the sons of Jedaiah of the house of Jeshua, 973; ⁴⁰the sons of Immer, 1,052; ⁴¹the sons of Pashhur, 1,247; ⁴²the sons of Harim, 1,017.

⁴³The Levites: the sons of Jeshua, of Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodevah, 74. ⁴⁴The singers: the sons of Asaph, 148. ⁴⁵The gatekeepers: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, 138.

⁴⁶The temple servants: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, ⁴⁷the sons of Keros, the sons of Sia, the sons of Padon, ⁴⁸the sons of Lebana, the sons of Hagaba, the sons of Shalmai, ⁴⁹the sons of Hanan, the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, ⁵⁰the sons of Reaiah, the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, ⁵¹the sons of Gazzam, the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, ⁵²the sons of Besai, the sons of Meunim, the sons of Nephushesim, ⁵³the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, ⁵⁴the sons of Bazlith, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha, ⁵⁵the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah, ⁵⁶the sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipha.

⁵⁷The sons of Solomon's servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Sophereth, the sons of Perida, ⁵⁸the sons of Jaala, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel, ⁵⁹the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim, the sons of Amon.

⁶⁰All the temple servants and the sons of Solomon's servants were 392.

⁶¹These were they who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon and Immer; but they could not show their fathers' houses or their descendants, whether they were of Israel: ⁶²the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, 642. ⁶³Of the priests: the sons of Hobaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai, the Gileadite, and was named after them. ⁶⁴These searched among their ancestral registration, but it could not be located; therefore they were considered unclean and excluded from the priesthood. ⁶⁵The governor said to them that they should not eat from the most holy things until a priest arose with Urim and Thummim.

Total of People and Gifts

⁶⁶The whole assembly together was 42,360, ⁶⁷besides their male and their female servants, of whom there were 7,337; and they had 245 male and female singers. ⁶⁸Their horses were 736; their mules, 245; ⁶⁹their camels, 435; their donkeys, 6,720.

⁷⁰Some from among the heads of fathers' households gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 gold drachmas, 50 basins, 530 priests' garments. ⁷¹Some of the heads of fathers' households gave into the treasury of the work 20,000 gold drachmas and 2,200 silver minas. ⁷²That which the rest of the people gave was 20,000 gold drachmas and 2,000 silver minas and 67 priests' garments.

⁷³Now the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants and all Israel, lived in their cities.

And when the seventh month came, the sons of Israel were in their cities.