Nehemiah 12:43

43 On that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy. The women and children also celebrated, and Jerusalem's rejoicing was heard far away.^[a]

Nehemiah 12:43 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 12:43

Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced,
&c.] Or many sacrifices, as Ben Melech interprets it; and these perhaps of the larger sort of cattle, oxen; and which, at least many of them, being peace offerings, the people feasted on them, so that it was a festival day:

for God had made them rejoice with great joy;
on account of the wall being set up all around, and so were in greater safety from their enemies:

the wives also and the children rejoiced;
while the priests blew the trumpets, and the singers sung and played on their instruments, the women and children gave loud shouts for joy:

so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off;
as at the laying of the foundation of the temple, ( Ezra 3:13 ) .

Nehemiah 12:43 In-Context

41 the priests: Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets;

42 and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. Then the singers sang, with Jezrahiah as the leader.

43 On that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy. The women and children also celebrated, and Jerusalem's rejoicing was heard far away.

44 On that same day men were placed in charge of the rooms [that housed] the supplies, contributions, firstfruits, and tenths. The legally required portions for the priests and Levites were gathered from the village fields, because Judah was grateful to the priests and Levites who were serving.

45 They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, along with the singers and gatekeepers, as David and his son Solomon had prescribed.

Footnotes

• [a]. Ezr 3:13