Dedication of the Wall

²⁷And at qthe dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, rwith cymbals, harps, and lyres. ²⁸And the sons of the singers gathered together from the district surrounding Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophathites; ²⁹also from Beth-gilgal and from the region of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built for themselves villages around Jerusalem. ³⁰And the priests and the Levites spurified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates and the wall.

³¹Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. tOne went to the south on the wall to uthe Dung Gate. ³²And after them went Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah, ³³and Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah, ³⁵and certain of the priests' sons vwith trumpets: Zechariah the son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph; ³⁶and his relatives, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, wwith the musical instruments of David xthe man of God. And Ezra the scribe went before them. ³⁷At ythe Fountain Gate they went up straight before them by zthe stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, to athe Water Gate on the east.

³⁸bThe other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north, and I followed them with half of the people, on the wall, above cthe Tower of the Ovens, to dthe Broad Wall, ³⁹and above ethe Gate of Ephraim, and by fthe Gate of Yeshanah,1 and by gthe Fish Gate and hthe Tower of Hananel and hthe Tower of the Hundred, to ithe Sheep Gate; and they came to a halt at jthe Gate of the Guard. ⁴⁰So both choirs of those who gave thanks stood in the house of God, and I and half of the officials with me; ⁴¹and the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, kwith trumpets; ⁴²and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang with Jezrahiah as their leader. ⁴³And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.

Service at the Temple

⁴⁴lOn that day men were appointed over the storerooms, the contributions, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them the portions required by the Law for the priests and for the Levites according to the fields of the towns, for Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who ministered. ⁴⁵And they performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did the singers and the gatekeepers, maccording to the command of David and his son Solomon. ⁴⁶For long ago in the days of David and nAsaph there were directors of the singers, and there were songs2 of praise and thanksgiving to God. ⁴⁷And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah gave the odaily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers; pand they set apart that which was for the Levites; qand the Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron.

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