English / ERV
Nehemiah 7
Easy-to-Read Version, 2006
- 1After we finished building the wall and put the doors in the gates, we chose the men who would guard the gates and the men to sing in the Temple and help the priests.
- 2Next, I put my brother Hanani in charge of Jerusalem. I chose another man named Hananiah to be the commander of the fort. I picked Hanani because he was a very honest man and he feared God more than most people do.
- 3Then I said to Hanani and Hananiah, “Each day you must wait until the sun has been up for several hours before you open the gates of Jerusalem. You must shut and lock the gates before the sun goes down. Also choose people who live in Jerusalem as guards. Put some of them at special places to guard the city, and put the other people near their own houses.”
- 4Now the city was large and there was plenty of room. But there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt.
- 5So my God put it in my heart to have all the people meet together. I called together all the important people, the officials, and the common people. I did this so that I could make a list of all the families. I found the family lists[1] of the people who had been the first to return from captivity. This is what I found written there:
- 6These are the people of the province who came back from captivity. In the past, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took them as prisoners to Babylon. These people came back to Jerusalem and Judah. They all went to their own towns.
- 7They returned with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah. This is the list of names and numbers of men from Israel who came back:
- 8the descendants of Parosh 2172
- 9the descendants of Shephatiah 372
- 10the descendants of Arah 652
- 11the descendants of Pahath Moab of the family line of Jeshua and Joab 2818
- 12the descendants of Elam 1254
- 13the descendants of Zattu 845
- 14the descendants of Zaccai 760
- 15the descendants of Binnui 648
- 16the descendants of Bebai 628
- 17the descendants of Azgad 2322
- 18the descendants of Adonikam 667
- 19the descendants of Bigvai 2067
- 20the descendants of Adin 655
- 21the descendants of Ater through the family of Hezekiah 98
- 22the descendants of Hashum 328
- 23the descendants of Bezai 324
- 24the descendants of Hariph 112
- 25the descendants of Gibeon 95
- 26from the towns of Bethlehem and Netophah 188
- 27from the town of Anathoth 128
- 28from the town of Beth Azmaveth 42
- 29from the towns of Kiriath Jearim, Kephirah, and Beeroth 743
- 30from the towns of Ramah and Geba 621
- 31from the town of Micmash 122
- 32from the towns of Bethel and Ai 123
- 33from the other town of Nebo 52
- 34from the other town of Elam 1254
- 35from the town of Harim 320
- 36from the town of Jericho 345
- 37from the towns of Lod, Hadid, and Ono 721
- 38from the town of Senaah 3930
- 39These are the priests: the descendants of Jedaiah through the family of Jeshua 973
- 40the descendants of Immer 1052
- 41the descendants of Pashhur 1247
- 42the descendants of Harim 1017
- 43These are the people from the tribe of Levi: the descendants of Jeshua through Kadmiel through the family of Hodeiah[2] 74
- 44These are the singers: the descendants of Asaph 148
- 45These are the gatekeepers: the descendants of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita, and Shobai 138
- 46These are the special Temple servants: the descendants of Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth,
- 47Keros, Sia, Padon,
- 48Lebana, Hagaba, Shalmai,
- 49Hanan, Giddel, Gahar,
- 50Reaiah, Rezin, Nekoda,
- 51Gazzam, Uzza, Paseah,
- 52Besai, Meunim, Nephussim,
- 53Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur,
- 54Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha,
- 55Barkos, Sisera, Temah,
- 56Neziah, and Hatipha.
- 57These are the descendants of the servants of Solomon: Sotai, Sophereth, Perida,
- 58Jaala, Darkon, Giddel,
- 59Shephatiah, Hattil, Pokereth Hazzebaim, and Amon,
- 60the Temple servants and the descendants of Solomon’s servants 392
- 61Some people came to Jerusalem from these towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon, and Immer. But these people could not prove that their families really came from the Israelites:
- 62the descendants of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda 642
- 63From the family of priests there were the descendants of Hobaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai. (If a man married a daughter of Barzillai from Gilead, he was counted as a descendant of Barzillai.)
- 64These people searched for their family histories, but they could not find them. They could not prove that their ancestors were priests, so they could not serve as priests. Their names were not included in the list of priests.
- 65The governor ordered them not to eat any of the most holy food until a priest could use the Urim and Thummim to ask God what to do.
- 66[66-67] All together, there were 42,360 people in the group who came back. This is not counting their 7337 men and women slaves. They also had 245 men and women singers with them.
- 68[68-69] They had 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels, and 6720 donkeys.
- 70Some of the family leaders gave money to support the work. The governor gave 19 pounds[3] of gold to the treasury. He also gave 50 bowls and 530 pieces of clothing for the priests.
- 71The family leaders gave 375 pounds[4] of gold to the treasury to support the work. They also gave 2750 pounds[5] of silver.
- 72All together the other people gave 375 pounds of gold, 2500 pounds[6] of silver, and 67 pieces of clothing for the priests.
- 73So the priests, the people from the tribe of Levi, the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Temple servants settled down in their own towns. And all the other Israelites settled down in their own towns. By the seventh month[7] of the year, all the Israelites had settled down in their own towns.