Nehemiah 7:70

70 Soothly some of the princes of the families gave costs into the work of God; (the) Tirshatha gave into the treasure, a thousand drachmas of gold/a thousand drams of gold, fifty vials, or basins, (and) five hundred and thirty coats of priests. (And some of the leaders of the families contributed to the costs, or the expenses, of the work of God; the governor gave to the treasury a thousand drachmas of gold, fifty basins, and five hundred and thirty priests? coats.)

Nehemiah 7:70 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 7:70

And some of the chief of the fathers gave unto the work
Of building the city and the temple, and for that service, ( Ezra 2:68 ) ,

the Tirshatha gave to the treasure a thousand drachms of gold;
each of which was one pound sterling, and so amounted to so many pounds: of these "dracmons", or "darics", a Persian coin, mention is made in ( Ezra 2:69 ) , they were golden staters, or shekels and had their name as is said, not from Darius, the father of Xerxes, though it is certain, from Herodotus ^F4, that he coined golden money; but from some other king of the same name, more ancient ^F5, which must be Darius the Mede; and if they are the same with the Adarcon in ( Ezra 8:27 ) as they seem to be, then those in ( 1 Chronicles 29:7 ) were pieces of money not so called in the times of David, but of Ezra, the writer of that book: whether this Tirshatha was Zerubbabel, or Nehemiah, is not easy to say, since this donation is not the same with that in Ezra, not made at the same time nor are the gifts the same, nor the persons that gave them. Zerubbabel was Tirshatha when the Jews came out of Babylon, and Nehemiah now:

fifty basins;
which were vessels, in the which the blood of the sacrifices was received and out of which it was sprinkled:

five hundred and thirty priests' garments;
which were laid up in the wardrobe, and used on occasion.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F4 Melpomene, sive, l. 4. c. 166.
F5 Scholiast. in Aristoph. Eccles. p. 741, 742. So Harpocration. Lexic. in voce (dardikov) , and Suidas on the same word.

Nehemiah 7:70 In-Context

68 The horses of them, six hundred and six and thirty; the mules of them, two hundred and five and forty; (Their horses numbered seven hundred and thirty-six; their mules, two hundred and forty-five;)

69 the camels of them, four hundred and five and thirty; the asses of them, six thousand eight hundred and thirty. (their camels, four hundred and thirty-five; and their donkeys, six thousand seven hundred and twenty.)

70 Soothly some of the princes of the families gave costs into the work of God; (the) Tirshatha gave into the treasure, a thousand drachmas of gold/a thousand drams of gold, fifty vials, or basins, (and) five hundred and thirty coats of priests. (And some of the leaders of the families contributed to the costs, or the expenses, of the work of God; the governor gave to the treasury a thousand drachmas of gold, fifty basins, and five hundred and thirty priests? coats.)

71 And of the princes of families, they gave into the treasure of the work, twenty thousand drachmas of gold/twenty thousand drams of gold, and two thousand and two hundred bezants of silver. (And the leaders of the families, they gave to the treasury for the work, twenty thousand drachmas of gold, and two thousand and two hundred bezants of silver.)

72 And that that the residue people gave, twenty thousand drachmas of gold/twenty thousand drams of gold, and two thousand bezants of silver, and seven and sixty coats of priests. (And the rest of the people gave twenty thousand drachmas of gold, and two thousand bezants of silver, and sixty-seven priests? coats.)