Nehemiah 7

Nehemiah 7
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Nehemiah rebuilds the walls of Jerusalem. Illustration from the Bible Encyclopedia.
Book	Book of Nehemiah
Category	Ketuvim
Christian Bible part	Old Testament
Order in the Christian part	16

Nehemiah 7 is the seventh chapter of the

The original text of this chapter is in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 73 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes Codex Leningradensis (1008).^[6][a]

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; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^S; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^A; 5th century).^[8]

An ancient Greek book called 1 Esdras (Greek: Ἔσδρας Αʹ) containing some parts of 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah is included in most editions of the Septuagint and is placed before the single book of Ezra–Nehemiah (which is titled in Greek: Ἔσδρας Βʹ). 1 Esdras 9:37-55 is an equivalent of Nehemiah 7:73-8:12 (The reading of the Law).^[9][10]

Vigilance (7:1–3)

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.^[11]

Verses 1–2

¹ 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, ² 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.^[12]

• "Castle": "citadel" (NKJV) or "palace" (KJV).^[13]

Verse 4

Now the city was large and spacious, but the people in it were few, and the houses were not rebuilt.^[14]

The

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.[16] Nehemiah was looking for Jews with veriable 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.^[16] 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.^[16]

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;^[17]

• "
  Haggai 1:1, 14; 2:2.^[19]
• "
  Haggai 1:1, 12, 14; 2:2; Zechariah 3:1.^[19]
• Some names are written differently in the
  2:2):^[21]

• Jerusalem
• Nebuchadnezzar II
• Related Bible parts: Ezra 2, Nehemiah 1

Notes

References