Nehemiah 7:1-11

1 The gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites were assigned their duties after the wall had been rebuilt and I had hung the doors.

2 I put my brother Hanani and Hananiah, the commander of the fortress, in charge of Jerusalem. Hananiah was a trustworthy man, and he feared God more than most people do.

3 I told them, "The gates of Jerusalem should not be opened at the hottest time of the day. While the [gatekeepers] are still standing there, they should shut the doors and bar them. Order some of the men in Jerusalem to stand guard, some at their posts and others in front of their homes."

4 The city was large and wide-open. Few people were in it, and no houses were being built.

5 Then my God put the idea into my head that I should gather the nobles, leaders, and people so that they could check their genealogy. I found the book with the genealogy of those who came back the first time. I found the following written in it:

6 These were the people in the province. They were the ones who left the place where the exiles had been taken captive. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had taken them captive. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah. All of them went to their own cities.

7 They went with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah. This is the number of Israelite men from the people in exile:

8 the descendants of Parosh 2,172

9 of Shephatiah 372

10 of Arah 652

11 of Pahath Moab, that is, of Jeshua and Joab 2,818

Nehemiah 7:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NEHEMIAH 7

Nehemiah having built the wall, and set up the doors, appointed two persons to take the charge of the city, and set watches for the safety of it, and to take special care about opening and shutting the gates of it, Ne 7:1-3, and concerned he was for the peopling of it, and having found a register of the first comers to it, gives their names, Ne 7:4-69 and some account of the freewill offerings made for the work they came about, Ne 7:70-73.