Nehemiah 12:43

43 They offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy; and the women also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Yerushalayim was heard even afar off.

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 and the Kohanim, Elyakim, Ma`aseyah, Minyamin, Mikhayahu, Elyo`enai, Zekharyah, and Hananyah, with trumpets;

42 and Ma`aseyah, and Shemayah, and El`azar, and `Uzzi, and Yehochanan, and Malkiyah, and `Elam, and Etzer. The singers sang loud, with Yizrachyah their overseer.

43 They offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy; and the women also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Yerushalayim was heard even afar off.

44 On that day were men appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the heave-offerings, for the first fruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them, according to the fields of the cities, the portions appointed by the law for the Kohanim and Levites: for Yehudah rejoiced for the Kohanim and for the Levites who waited.

45 They kept the charge of their God, and the charge of the purification, and [so did] the singers and the porters, according to the mitzvah of David, and of Shlomo his son.