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The original text of this chapter is in Biblical Hebrew, Hebrew language. Chapters and verses of the Bible, This chapter is divided into 73 verses.Textual witnesses
Some early biblical manuscript, manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Biblical Hebrew, Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes Leningrad Codex, Codex Leningradensis (1008). There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; Biblia Hebraica (Kittel), BHK: S; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century). An ancient Greek book called 1 Esdras (Greek: ), containing some parts of Books of Chronicles, 2 Chronicles and Book of Ezra, Ezra and one section from Book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah, is included in most editions of the Septuagint and is placed before the single book of Ezra–Nehemiah (which is titled in Greek: ). 1 Esdras 9:37-55 is equivalent to Nehemiah 7:73-8:12, providing an account of Ezra's reading of the Law of Moses.Vigilance (verses 1–3)
The wall around Jerusalem was not the ultimate security but 'a necessary defense and dynamic distinctive symbol' of the Jews among the surrounding nations, so the inhabitants have to participate in the system to protect the city.Verses 1–2
:'' Now when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah the governor of the castle charge over Jerusalem, for he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many.'' *"Castle": "citadel" (New King James Version, NKJV) or "palace" (King James Version, KJV).Verse 4
:''Now the city was large and spacious, but the people in it were few, and the houses were not rebuilt.'' The Revised Standard Version reads ''... no houses had been built'', the Revised Version, ''the houses were not builded''. H. E. Ryle counsels against a literal interpretation of these words, suggesting that the real meaning was that there were large open spaces within the walls where more houses could be built.Ryle, H. E.The census (verses 4–73a)
The defensive measures implemented by Nehemiah, Hanani and Hananiah were only for short-term, because the bigger goal was to reestablish Jerusalem as the center of Jewish culture and religious purity, so it has to be repopulated from some people who then lived outside the city. Nehemiah was looking for Jews with verifiable heritage to send some family members to populate Jerusalem, but instead of starting a census, he used the original listing of those who had been the first to return which specified clan origins. This list is almost an exact replication of the one in Ezra 2, with slight variations likely due to the transcribing and transmission over time.Verse 7
:''Who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number, I say, of the men of the people of Israel was this;'' Zerubbabel was the leader of the group and of the Davidic line (see ). He is associated with the messianic hope in the Book of Zechariah, although nothing of this is mentioned in Nehemiah. His office is not named in this book, but he is identified as the "governor of Judah" in Haggai 1:1, , and . The office of Jeshua the High Priest, Jeshua (or "Joshua") is not mentioned in this book, but he is identified as the "High Priest of Israel" in Haggai 1:1, , ; ; . Some names are written differently in the Book of Ezra (Ezra 2:2, 2:2): Most versions of Ezra 2:2 do not include Nahamani, and therefore only list eleven returnees.Verse 73
:''So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel, lived in their towns. And when the seventh month had come, the people of Israel were in their towns.: ESV This verse ends the census material and commences a new section, which extends into Nehemiah 8, chapter 8. The version contained in 1 Esdras records the assembly in this passage immediately after the dismissal of foreign wives recounted in Ezra 9-Ezra 10, 10.See also
*Jerusalem *Nebuchadnezzar II *RelatedNotes
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External links
* Judaism, Jewish translations: *