27 September - Nehemiah 6-7

Jude Thu Sep 06, 2018 7:59 am

My soul doth magnify my YAH, and my spirit hath rejoiced in EL my Saviour; For HE that is mighty hath done to me great things; and Holy is HIS Name. Now unto HIM who is ever present in my helpless estate; who is able to keep me from falling and to present me faultless before the presence of His Glory with exceeding joy, unto the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the only wise EL our Saviour be honour and glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and for ever Halleluyah!

NEHEMIAH 6

1And it came to be when Sanballat, and Toḇiyah, and Geshem the Araḇ, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks left in it – though at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates –

2that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to do evil to me.

3So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, and I am unable to come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you?”

4However, they sent me the same word four times, and I answered them the same word.

5Then Sanballat sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand, the same word, the fifth time.

6In it was written: Among the nations it has been heard, and Gashmu is saying, that you and the Yehuḏim are planning to rebel, therefore you are rebuilding the wall, and you are to be their sovereign – according to these words.

7And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Yerushalayim, saying, ‘A sovereign is in Yehuḏah!’ And now these words are heard by the sovereign. Therefore come now, and let us take counsel together.

8Then I sent to him, saying, “There are no such matters done as you are saying, but you are inventing them in your own heart.”

9For all of them were making us afraid, saying, “Let their hands slacken for the work, and it not be done.” But now, make my hands strong.

10And when I came to the house of Shemayah son of Delayah, son of Mehĕtaḇ’ĕl, who was restrained, he said, “Let us meet together in the House of Elohim, inside the Hĕḵal, and let us close the doors of the Hĕḵal, for they are coming to slay you – by night they are coming to slay you.”

11And I said, “Should a man like me flee? And who is there like me who would go into the Hĕḵal to save his life? I do not go in!”

12And see, I perceived that Elohim had not sent him, but that he spoke this prophecy against me because Toḇiyah and Sanballat had hired him –

13because he was a hireling – that I should be afraid, and do so, and shall sin, and so they could give me an evil name, to reproach me.

14My Elohim, remember Toḇiyah and Sanballat, according to these works of theirs, and the prophetess No‛aḏyah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid.

15And the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of the month of Elul, in fifty-two days.

16And it came to be, when all our enemies heard, and all the nations around us saw, that they fell greatly in their own eyes, and knew that this work was done by our Elohim.

17In those days the nobles of Yehuḏah also sent many letters to Toḇiyah, while those of Toḇiyah came to them.

18For many in Yehuḏah were sworn to him, because he was the son-in-law of Sheḵanyah son of Araḥ, and his son Yehoḥanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Bereḵyah.

19They were also speaking about his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. Toḇiyah sent letters to frighten me.

NEHEMIAH 7

1And it came to be, when the wall was rebuilt, that I set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, and the singers, and the Lĕwites were appointed.

2And I put my brother Ḥanani in charge of Yerushalayim, and Ḥananyah the head of the palace, for he was a trustworthy man and feared Elohim more than many.

3And I said to them, “Let not the gates of Yerushalayim be opened until the sun is hot. And while they are standing by, let them shut the doors and bolt them. And appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Yerushalayim, each at his post, and each in front of his own house.”

4And the city was wide on both sides and great, but the people in it were few, and the houses were not rebuilt.

5And my Elohim put it into my heart to gather the nobles, and the deputy rulers, and the people, in order to be registered by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of those who had come up at the beginning, and I found written in it:

6These are the sons of the province who came back from the captivity of the exiles whom Neḇuḵaḏnetstsar the sovereign of Baḇel had exiled, and who returned to Yerushalayim and Yehuḏah, each to his city,

7who came with Zerubbaḇel, Yĕshua, Neḥemyah, Azaryah, Ra‛amyah, Naḥamani, Mordeḵai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Big̅wai, Neḥum, Ba‛anah. The number of the men of the people of Yisra’ĕl:

8sons of Parosh, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two;

9sons of Shephatyah, three hundred and seventy-two;

10sons of Araḥ, six hundred and fifty-two;

11sons of Paḥath-Mo’aḇ, of the sons of Yĕshua and Yo’aḇ, two thousand eight hundred and eighteen;

12sons of Ěylam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four;

13sons of Zattu, eight hundred and forty-five;

14sons of Zakkai, seven hundred and sixty;

15sons of Binnui, six hundred and forty-eight;

16sons of Bĕḇai, six hundred and twenty-eight;

17sons of Azgaḏ, two thousand three hundred and twenty-two;

18sons of Aḏoniqam, six hundred and sixty-seven;

19sons of Big̅wai, two thousand and sixty-seven;

20sons of Aḏin, six hundred and fifty-five;

21sons of Atĕr of Ḥizqiyah, ninety-eight;

22sons of Ḥashum, three hundred and twenty-eight;

23sons of Bĕtsai, three hundred and twenty-four;

24sons of Ḥariph, one hundred and twelve;

25sons of Giḇ‛on, ninety-five;

26men of Bĕyth Leḥem and Netophah, one hundred and eighty-eight;

27men of Anathoth, one hundred and twenty-eight;

28men of Bĕyth Azmaweth, forty-two;

29men of Qiryath Ye‛arim, Kephirah, and Be’ĕroth, seven hundred and forty-three;

30men of Ramah and Geḇa, six hundred and twenty-one;

31men of Miḵmas, one hundred and twenty-two;

32men of Bĕyth Ěl and Ai, one hundred and twenty-three;

33men of the other Neḇo, fifty-two;

34sons of the other Ěylam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four;

35sons of Ḥarim, three hundred and twenty;

36sons of Yeriḥo, three hundred and forty-five;

37sons of Loḏ, Ḥaḏiḏ, and Ono, seven hundred and twenty-one;

38sons of Sena’ah, three thousand nine hundred and thirty.

39The priests: sons of Yeḏayah, of the house of Yĕshua, nine hundred and seventy-three;

40sons of Immĕr, one thousand and fifty-two;

41sons of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred and forty-seven;

42sons of Ḥarim, one thousand and seventeen.

43The Lĕwites: sons of Yĕshua, of Qaḏmi’ĕl, of the sons of Hoḏewah, seventy-four.

44The singers: sons of Asaph, one hundred and forty-eight.

45The gatekeepers: sons of Shallum, sons of Atĕr, sons of Talmon, sons of Aqquḇ, sons of Ḥatita, sons of Shoḇai, one hundred and thirty-eight.

46The Nethinim: sons of Tsiḥa, sons of Ḥasupha, sons of Tabba‛oth,

47sons of Qĕyros, sons of Si‛a, sons of Paḏon,

48sons of Leḇanah, sons of Ḥag̅aḇa, sons of Salmai,

49sons of Ḥanan, sons of Giddĕl, sons of Gaḥar,

50sons of Re’ayah, sons of Retsin, sons of Neqoḏa,

51sons of Gazzam, sons of Uzza, sons of Pasĕaḥ,

52sons of Bĕsai, sons of Me‛unim, sons of Nephishesim,

53sons of Baqbuq, sons of Ḥaqupha, sons of Ḥarḥur,

54sons of Batslith, sons of Meḥiḏa, sons of Ḥarsha,

55sons of Barqos, sons of Sisera, sons of Temaḥ,

56sons of Netsiyaḥ, and sons of Ḥatipha.

57The sons of Shelomoh’s servants: sons of Sotai, sons of Sophereth, sons of Periḏa,

58sons of Ya‛ala, sons of Darqon, sons of Giddĕl,

59sons of Shephatyah, sons of Ḥattil, sons of Poḵereth of Tseḇayim, sons of Amon.

60All the Nethinim, and the sons of Shelomoh’s servants, were three hundred and ninety-two.

61And these were the ones who came up from Tĕl Melaḥ, Tĕl Ḥarsha, Keruḇ, Addon, and Immĕr, but they were unable to show their father’s house, and their seed, whether they were of Yisra’ĕl:

62sons of Delayah, sons of Toḇiyah, sons of Neqoḏa, six hundred and forty-two.

63And of the priests: sons of Ḥaḇayah, sons of Qots, sons of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gil‛aḏite, and was called by their name.

64These sought their register among those who were counted by genealogy, but it was not found, so they were barred from the priesthood as defiled.

65And the governor said to them that they should not eat of the most set-apart gifts until a priest stood up with the Urim and Tummim.

66All the assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty,

67besides their male and female servants, these were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven. And they had two hundred and forty-five men and women singers.

68Their horses were seven hundred and thirty-six, their mules two hundred and forty-five,

69camels four hundred and thirty-five, donkeys six thousand seven hundred and twenty.

70And some of the heads of the fathers’ houses contributed to the work. The governor gave to the treasury one thousand gold drachmas, fifty basins, and five hundred and thirty priestly garments.

71Some of the heads of the fathers’ houses gave to the treasury of the work twenty thousand gold drachmas, and two thousand two hundred silver minas.

72And the rest of the people gave twenty thousand gold drachmas, two thousand silver minas, and sixty-seven priestly garments.

73So the priests, and the Lĕwites, and the gatekeepers, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinim, and all Yisra’ĕl dwelt in their cities.