Nehemiah 11
The full text of Nehemiah 11 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem. The rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine stayed in the other cities.
2 The people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.
3 These are the heads of the province who settled in Jerusalem (but in the cities of Judah, everyone lived on his own property in their cities—Israel, the priests, the Levites, the temple servants, and the descendants of Solomon's servants).
4 In Jerusalem lived some of the descendants of Judah and Benjamin. From the descendants of Judah: Athaiah son of Uzziah, son of Zechariah, son of Amariah, son of Shephatiah, son of Mahalalel, of the descendants of Perez;
5 and Maaseiah son of Baruch, son of Col-Hozeh, son of Hazaiah, son of Adaiah, son of Joiarib, son of Zechariah, son of the Shilonite.
6 All the descendants of Perez who lived in Jerusalem were 468 valiant men.
7 These are the descendants of Benjamin: Sallu son of Meshullam, son of Joed, son of Pedaiah, son of Kolaiah, son of Maaseiah, son of Ithiel, son of Jeshaiah,
8 and after him Gabbai and Sallai: 928.
9 Joel son of Zikri was their overseer, and Judah son of Hassenuah was second in charge of the city.
10 From the priests: Jedaiah son of Joiarib, Jakin,
11 Seraiah son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, the ruler of the house of God,
12 and their brothers who did the work of the house: 822. And Adaiah son of Jeroham, son of Pelaliah, son of Amzi, son of Zechariah, son of Pashhur, son of Malkijah,
13 and his brothers, heads of fathers' houses: 242. And Amashsai son of Azarel, son of Ahzai, son of Meshillemoth, son of Immer,
14 and their brothers, mighty men of valor: 128. Their overseer was Zabdiel son of Haggedolim.
15 From the Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah, son of Bunni,
16 and Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the heads of the Levites, who were over the outside work of the house of God,
17 and Mattaniah son of Mica, son of Zabdi, son of Asaph, who was the leader to begin the thanksgiving in prayer, and Bakbukiah, the second among his brothers, and Abda son of Shammua, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun.
18 All the Levites in the holy city were 284.
19 The gatekeepers, Akkub, Talmon, and their brothers who kept watch at the gates: 172.
20 The rest of Israel, the priests, and the Levites were in all the cities of Judah, each on his own inheritance.
21 The temple servants lived on Ophel, and Ziha and Gishpa were over the temple servants.
22 The overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, son of Hashabiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Mica, of the descendants of Asaph, the singers, over the work of the house of God.
23 For there was a command from the king concerning them, and a fixed provision for the singers, as each day required.
24 Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, of the descendants of Zerah son of Judah, was the king's agent in all matters concerning the people.
25 As for the villages with their fields: some of the people of Judah lived in Kiriath-Arba and its settlements, Dibon and its settlements, Jekabzeel and its villages,
26 Jeshua, Moladah, Beth-Pelet,
27 Hazar-Shual, Beersheba and its settlements,
28 Ziklag, Meconah and its settlements,
29 En-Rimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth,
30 Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and its fields, and Azekah and its settlements. So they settled from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom.
31 The descendants of Benjamin lived from Geba onward, at Michmash, Aija, Bethel and its settlements,
32 Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah,
33 Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim,
34 Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat,
35 Lod, Ono, and the Valley of Craftsmen.
36 Some divisions of the Levites in Judah were attached to Benjamin.
Translation notes (8)
- Nehemiah 11:1a Casting the goral, 'lot', was understood as submitting a decision to divine determination (Proverbs 16:33), here used to repopulate a rebuilt but underinhabited capital. The title ir haqqodesh, 'the holy city', is rare in the Hebrew Bible, appearing elsewhere at Isaiah 48:2, Isaiah 52:1, and Nehemiah 11:18.
- Nehemiah 11:3a Medinah, 'province' (מְדִינָה), is a Persian-period administrative term designating Yehud, the small district of Judah within the larger satrapy Beyond the River. The word marks Jerusalem as the seat of a subject province of the Persian empire, not of an independent kingdom.
- Nehemiah 11:9a Hebrew mishneh (מִשְׁנֶה), 'second', can denote a deputy office, as with Joseph's rank in Genesis 41:43, or the Second Quarter of Jerusalem, the district where the prophetess Huldah lived (2 Kings 22:14; Zephaniah 1:10). The phrase may therefore mean either that Judah was second in authority over the city or that he administered the city's Second Quarter.
- Nehemiah 11:17a Mattaniah's descent from Asaph ties this postexilic office to the singer whom David first appointed to give thanks before the ark (1 Chronicles 16:4-7). The Asaphite guild's name stands in the titles of Psalms 50 and 73-83, so the charge to begin the todah, 'thanksgiving', continues a liturgical line reaching back to the first temple.
- Nehemiah 11:23a The king is the Persian monarch, likely Artaxerxes I; royal subsidy of the Jerusalem cult accords with the decree of Darius in Ezra 6:8-9 and with wider Achaemenid support of local sanctuaries. Hebrew amanah (אֲמָנָה), 'fixed provision', denotes a firm, binding arrangement, from the same root as 'amen', so the singers' daily allowance rested on formal royal guarantee rather than voluntary offerings.
- Nehemiah 11:24a The phrase rendered here as 'the king's agent' is literally leyad hammelekh, 'at the hand of the king'. Pethahiah evidently served as a liaison at the Persian court, representing Judean affairs before Artaxerxes, an arrangement consistent with Persian administration of subject peoples through their own officials.
- Nehemiah 11:30a The span "from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom" replaces the traditional national formula "from Dan to Beersheba," reflecting the reduced borders of postexilic Judah: Beersheba marked the southern limit, while the Valley of Hinnom (ge-hinnom), just outside Jerusalem, marked the northern edge of Judahite settlement.
- Nehemiah 11:36a The Masoretic Text is elliptical, reading literally 'and of the Levites, divisions of Judah to Benjamin' (machleqot, 'divisions'). The rendering here takes certain Levitical courses from Judah as reassigned to Benjaminite territory; the Vulgate instead reads 'portions of Judah and Benjamin,' implying Levites were settled in both tribal areas.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is Trinity Bible's own modern English translation, worked directly from the original Hebrew and honest to the earliest manuscripts. It was completed in 2026 — the most modern English Bible translation — and is exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter, including all of Nehemiah, is free to read here on the web.
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