Nehemiah 7:61-9:21

Contemporary English Version

^61-62There were 642 who returned from the families of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda, though they could not prove they were Israelites. They had lived in the Babylonian towns of Tel-Melah, Tel-Harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer.

^63-64The families of Hobaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai could not prove they were priests. The ancestor of the family of Barzillai had married the daughter of Barzillai from Gilead and had taken his wife's family name. But the records of these three families could not be found, and none of them were allowed to serve as priests. ⁶⁵^(A) In fact, the governor told them, “You cannot eat the food offered to God until he lets us know if you really are priests.”^[a]

^66-69There were 42,360 who returned, in addition to 7,337 servants and 245 musicians, counting both men and women. Altogether, they brought with them 736 horses, 245 mules,^[b] 435 camels, and 6,720 donkeys.

^70-72Many people gave gifts to help pay for the materials to rebuild the temple. The governor himself gave 8 kilograms of gold, 50 bowls to be used in the temple, and 530 robes for the priests. Family leaders gave 153 kilograms of gold and 1,458 kilograms of silver. The rest of the people gave 153 kilograms of gold, 1,325 kilograms of silver, and 67 robes for the priests.

⁷³^(B) And so, by the seventh month,^[c] priests, Levites, temple guards, musicians, workers, and many of the ordinary people had settled in the towns of Judah.

Ezra Reads God's Law to the People

8 ^1-2On the first day of the seventh month,^[d] the people came together in the open area in front of the Water Gate. Then they asked Ezra, who was a teacher of the Law of Moses, to read to them from this Law that the Lord had given his people. Ezra the priest came with the Law and stood before the crowd of men, women, and the children who were old enough to understand. ³From early morning till noon, he read the Law of Moses to them, and they listened carefully. ⁴Ezra stood on a high wooden platform that had been built for this occasion. Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah were standing to his right, while Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash Baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam were standing to his left.

⁵Ezra was up on the high platform, where he could be seen by everyone, and when he opened the book, all the people stood up. ⁶Ezra praised the great Lord God, and they lifted their hands, shouting “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed with their faces to the ground and worshiped the Lord.

^7-8After this, the Levites Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah went among the people, explaining the meaning of what Ezra had read.

⁹The people started crying when God's Law was read to them. Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher, and the Levites who had been teaching the people all said, “This is a special day for the Lord your God. So don't be sad and don't cry!”

¹⁰Nehemiah told the people, “Enjoy your good food and wine and share some with those who didn't have anything to bring. Don't be sad! This is a special day for the Lord, and he will make you happy and strong.”

¹¹The Levites encouraged the people by saying, “This is a sacred day, so don't worry or mourn!” ¹²When the people returned to their homes, they celebrated by eating and drinking and by sharing their food with those in need, because they had understood what had been read to them.

Celebrating the Festival of Shelters

¹³On the second day of the seventh month,^[e] the leaders of all the family groups came together with the priests and the Levites, so Ezra could teach them the Law ¹⁴^(C) that the Lord had given to Moses. They learned from the Law that the people of Israel were to live in shelters when they celebrated the festival in the seventh month of the year. ¹⁵They also learned that they were to go into the woods and gather branches of leafy trees such as olives, myrtles, and palms for making these shelters.

¹⁶So the people gathered branches and made shelters on the flat roofs of their houses, in their yards, in the courtyard of the temple, and in the open areas around the Water Gate and Ephraim Gate. ¹⁷Everyone who had returned from Babylonia built shelters. They lived in them and joyfully celebrated the Festival of Shelters for the first time since the days of Joshua son of Nun. ¹⁸On each of the first seven days of the festival, Ezra read to the people from God's Law. Then on the eighth day, everyone gathered for worship, just as the Law had said they must.

The People Confess Their Sins

9 On the twenty-fourth day of the seventh month,^[f] the people of Israel went without eating, and they dressed in sackcloth and threw dirt on their heads to show their sorrow. ²They refused to let foreigners join them, as they met to confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors. ³For three hours they stood and listened to the Law of the Lord their God, and then for the next three hours they confessed their sins and worshiped the Lord.

⁴Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the special platform for the Levites and prayed aloud to the Lord their God. ⁵Then the Levites Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said:

“Stand and shout praises
to your Lord,
the eternal God!^[g]
Praise his wonderful name,
though he is greater
than words can express.”

The People Pray

⁶You alone are the Lord,
Creator of the heavens
    and all the stars,
Creator of the earth
    and those who live on it,
Creator of the ocean
    and all its creatures.
You are the source of life,
praised by the stars
    that fill the heavens.
⁷^(D) You are the Lord our God,
    the one who chose Abram—
you brought him from Ur
in Babylonia
    and named him Abraham.
⁸^(E) Because he was faithful,
    you made an agreement
to give his descendants
the land of the Canaanites
    and Hittites,
of the Amorites and Perizzites,
and of the Jebusites
    and Girgashites.
Now you have kept your promise,
    just as you always do.

⁹^(F) When our ancestors
were in Egypt,
    you saw their suffering;
when they were at the Red Sea,^[h]
    you heard their cry for help.
¹⁰^(G) You knew that the King of Egypt
and his officials and his nation
    had mistreated your people.
So you worked fearsome miracles
    against the Egyptians
and earned a reputation
    that still remains.
¹¹^(H) You divided the deep sea,
and your people walked through
    on dry land.
But you tossed their enemies in,
and they sank down
    like a heavy stone.
¹²^(I) Each day you led your people
    with a thick cloud,
and at night you showed the way
    with a flaming fire.
¹³^(J) At Sinai you came down
    from heaven,
and you gave your people
good laws and teachings
    that are fair and honest.
¹⁴You commanded them to respect
    your holy Sabbath,
and you instructed
your servant Moses
    to teach them your laws.
¹⁵^(K) When they were hungry,
    you sent bread from heaven,
and when they were thirsty,
you let water flow
    from a rock.
Then you commanded them
    to capture the land
that you had solemnly promised.

* ¹⁶^(L) Our stubborn ancestors
    refused to obey—
they forgot about the miracles
    you had worked for them,
and they were determined
to return to Egypt
    and become slaves again.
¹⁷^(M) But, our God, you are merciful
    and quick to forgive;
you are loving, kind,
    and very patient.
So you never turned away
    from them—
¹⁸^(N) not even when they made
    an idol shaped like a calf
and insulted you by claiming,
“This is the god who rescued us
    from Egypt.”

¹⁹^(O) Because of your great mercy,
you never abandoned them
    in the desert.
And you always guided them
with a cloud by day
    and a fire at night.
²⁰Your gentle Spirit
    instructed them,^[i]
and you gave them manna^[j] to eat
    and water to drink.
²¹You took good care of them,
and for forty years
    they never lacked a thing.
Their clothes didn't wear out,
and their feet were never swollen.

Footnotes

7.65 until … priests: The Hebrew text has “until a priest comes with the urim and thummim,” sacred objects which were used in some way to receive answers from God.
7.66-69 736 horses, 245 mules: A few Hebrew manuscripts; this is not found in most Hebrew manuscripts of verse 68.
7.73 seventh month: Tishri (also called Ethanim), the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-September to mid-October.
8.1,2 seventh month: Tishri (also called Ethanim), the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-September to mid-October.
8.13 seventh month: Hebrew “same month.”
9.1 seventh month: Hebrew “same month.”
9.5 shout … God: Or “shout eternal praises to the Lord your God.”
9.9 Red Sea: Hebrew yam suph, “Sea of Reeds,” one of the marshes of fresh water lakes near the eastern part of the Nile Delta. This identification is based on Exodus 13.17—14.9, which lists the towns on the route of the Israelites before crossing the sea. In the Greek translation of the Scriptures made about 200 b.c., the “Sea of Reeds” was named “Red Sea.”
9.20 Your gentle Spirit instructed them: Or “You gently instructed them.”
9.20 manna: This was something like a thin wafer (see Exodus 16.1-36).