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Neemias 11

BLIVRE · Chapter 11/13

1E os líderes do povo habitaram em Jerusalém; porém os demais do povo lançaram sortes para trazerem um de dez para habitar na santa cidade de Jerusalém, e as nove partes nas outras cidades.

2E o povo abençoou a todos os homens que voluntariamente se ofereceram para habitarem em Jerusalém.

3E estes são os chefes da província que habitaram em Jerusalém (porém os israelitas, os sacerdotes e os levitas, os servos do templo, e os filhos dos servos de Salomão, nas cidades de Judá, habitaram cada um em sua possessão, em suas cidades).

4Habitaram, pois, em Jerusalém , [alguns] dos filhos de Judá, e dos filhos de Benjamim. Dos filhos de Judá: Ataías, filho de Uzias, filho de Zacarias, filho de Amarias, filho de Sefatias, filho de Maalaleel, dos filhos de Perez;

5E Maaseias filho de Baruque, filho de Col-Hozé, filho de Hazaías, filho de Adaías, filho de Joiaribe, filho de Zacarias, filho de Siloni.

6Todos os filhos de Perez que habitaram em Jerusalém foram quatrocentos setenta e oito homens valentes.

7E estes são os filhos de Benjamim: Salu filho de Mesulão, filho de Joede, filho de Pedaías, filho de Colaías, filho de Maaseias, filho de Itiel, filho de Jesaías.

8E após ele, Gabai, Salai, novecentos e vinte e oito.

9E Joel, filho de Zicri, era o supervisor deles; e Judá filho de Senua, o segundo sobre a cidade.

10Dos sacerdotes: Jedaías filho de Joiaribe, Jaquim,

11Seraías filho de Hilquias, filho de Mesulão, filho de Zadoque, filho de Meraiote, filho de Aitube, governador da casa de Deus,

12E seus irmãos, que faziam a obra da casa, oitocentos vinte e dois; e Adaías filho de Jeroão, filho de Pelalias, filho de Anzi, filho de Zacarias, filho de Pasur, filho de Malquias,

13E seus irmãos, chefes de famílias, duzentos e quarenta e dois; e Amassai filho de Azareel, filho de Azai, filho de Mesilemote, filho de Imer,

14E seus irmãos, homens valentes, cento e vinte e oito; e o supervisor sobre eles era Zabdiel, filho de Gedolim.

15E dos Levitas: Semaías filho de Hassube, filho de Azricão, filho de Hasabias, filho de Buni;

16Sabetai e Jozabade, dos chefes dos Levitas, supervisores da obra de fora da casa de Deus;

17E Matanias filho de Mica, filho de Zabdi, filho de Asafe, o chefe, o que começava a ação de graças na oração; e Baquebuquias o segundo de entre seus irmãos; e Abda filho de Samua, filho de Galal, filho de Jedutum.

18Todos os levitas na santa cidade foram duzentos e oitenta e quatro.

19E os porteiros, Acube, Talmom, com seus irmãos, os guardas das portas: cento e setenta e dois.

20E o demais dos israelitas, dos sacerdotes, dos levitas, estevem em todas as cidades de Judá, cada um em sua propriedade.

21E os servos do templo habitavam em Ofel; e Zia e Gispa governavam sobre os servos do templo.

22E o supervisor dos levitas em Jerusalém foi Uzi, filho de Bani, filho de Hasabias, filho de Matanias, filho de Mica; dos filhos de Asafe estavam os cantores diante da obra da casa de Deus.

23Porque tinha mandamento do rei acerca deles, e determinação acerca dos cantores para cada dia.

24E Petaías filho de Mesezabel, dos filhos de Zerá, filho de Judá, estava à mão do rei em todo negócio do povo.

25E quanto às aldeias em suas terras, alguns dos filhos de Judá habitaram em Quiriate-Arba, nas suas aldeias circunvizinhas, em Dibom e suas aldeias circunvizinhas, e em Jecabzeel e suas aldeias;

26E em Jesua, Molada, Bete-Pelete;

27Hazar-Sual, Berseba, e em suas aldeias circunvizinhas;

28E em Ziclague, e em Meconá, e em suas aldeias circunvizinhas;

29E em En-Rimom, Zorá Jarmute;

30Zanoa, Adulão, e em suas aldeias; em Laquis e suas terras; Azeca e suas aldeias circunvizinhas. E habitaram desde Berseba até o vale de Hinom.

31E os filhos de Benjamim desde Geba [habitaram] em Micmás, Aia, e Betel e suas aldeias circunvizinhas;

32Em Anatote, Nobe, Ananias;

33Hazor, Ramá, Gitaim;

34Hadide, Zeboim, Nebalate;

35Lode, e Ono, no vale dos artífices.

36E [alguns] dos Levitas, nos repartições de Judá e de Benjamim.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Since Jerusalem was sparsely populated despite the rebuilt walls, the people cast lots so that one in ten families would move to live in the city. The residents of Jerusalem and the surrounding villages are listed.

Explanation

Despite the completed wall, the city remained nearly empty, since most people preferred to live on their own land and in their villages in the countryside. The solution found — casting lots to select one in ten families to live in the capital — shows a practical and somewhat sacrificial effort to ensure that Jerusalem, the nation's symbolic and religious center, would not be left abandoned. It is worth noting that the text specifically praises those who volunteered to live there without needing the lottery, valuing willing initiative above mere obligation. The application for today is that restoring something important sometimes requires people to accept uncomfortable life changes for the good of the whole.

Fun facts

  • Casting lots for important decisions was common in ancient Jewish culture, understood as a way of letting God decide in situations where humans might favor their own interests.
  • The list of residents includes representatives from practically every social class and religious role of the time, suggesting a deliberate effort for Jerusalem to reflect the whole diversity of the nation, not just an elite.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Neemias 11:1Since Jerusalem was large but sparsely populated after the wall was rebuilt, it is decided by lot that one out of every ten families from the other towns would move there. Casting lots kept the choice from looking like favoritism toward some over others.
  2. Neemias 11:2Since living inside the capital meant more exposure to attack and less land to farm, those who volunteered to live there received special public thanks from the rest of the people.
  3. Neemias 11:3After the lot of one in ten, the chapter lists who actually came to live in the capital, mixing leaders, priests, Levites, and even temple servants.
  4. Neemias 11:4Only two tribes appear clearly identified as living in Jerusalem, Judah and Benjamin, the same ones that had already formed the core of the people since the return from exile.
  5. Neemias 11:5Another leader from the tribe of Judah is named with a long genealogy, tracing back many generations before him.
  6. Neemias 11:6The family of Perez, tied to the lineage of King David himself, totals nearly five hundred men described here as “valiant,” perhaps for accepting the added risk of living in the exposed capital.
  7. Neemias 11:7Now begins the list of the tribe of Benjamin, with another extensive genealogy tracing back many generations.
  8. Neemias 11:8The tribe of Benjamin totals nearly a thousand people living in Jerusalem, an even larger number than the one recorded for the family of Judah.
  9. Neemias 11:9Two officials are appointed to oversee the lay population of the city, one of them described as second in administrative command of Jerusalem.
  10. Neemias 11:10Now begins the list of priests who lived in Jerusalem, including the family of Joiarib, which later in Jewish history would become associated with the family of the Maccabees.
  11. Neemias 11:11Seraiah appears as the chief leader of the temple, with a genealogy that traces back through several important priests in Israel's history.
  12. Neemias 11:12More than eight hundred priests worked directly in the service of the temple, a number that shows the scale of religious operations in Jerusalem.
  13. Neemias 11:13Two hundred forty-two more priests, heads of families, complete this survey of who lived in the capital.
  14. Neemias 11:14A further hundred twenty-eight priests, described as “mighty men of valour,” close out this part of the list, under the supervision of Zabdiel.
  15. Neemias 11:15Now begins the list of Levites who lived in Jerusalem, with yet another detailed genealogy tracing back many generations.
  16. Neemias 11:16Two Levites are placed specifically in charge of the outward business of the temple, probably maintenance and administration outside the main building.
  17. Neemias 11:17Mattaniah held the specific role of leading the opening of the prayers of thanksgiving, a clearly defined liturgical post within the temple.
  18. Neemias 11:18In all, two hundred eighty-four Levites lived in Jerusalem, a much smaller number than the priests, keeping the same historical pattern of few Levites available.
  19. Neemias 11:19The gatekeepers of the temple total a hundred seventy-two, responsible for physically guarding the entrances of a space regarded as sacred.
  20. Neemias 11:20The rest of the people, who had not been chosen by lot to live in Jerusalem, went on living as usual on their own family lands scattered throughout Judah.
  21. Neemias 11:21The Nethinims, servants of the temple, live in the region of Ophel, near the temple, under the leadership of two specific officials.
  22. Neemias 11:22Uzzi coordinates the Levites of the capital, while the singers continue to be specifically the descendants of Asaph, the same family responsible for the temple's music since the days of David.
  23. Neemias 11:23The Persian king himself had decreed a fixed daily allowance for the temple singers, showing how much the funding of Jewish worship depended on decisions made at a foreign court.
  24. Neemias 11:24Pethahiah held a position as official representative of the Jewish people before the Persian king, a kind of ambassador looking after Judah's interests at court.
  25. Neemias 11:25Here begins the list of towns outside Jerusalem where the tribe of Judah settled, including Kirjath-arba, the old name for the town of Hebron.
  26. Neemias 11:26Three more towns in the south of Judah receive settlers, continuing the territorial mapping of the tribe.
  27. Neemias 11:27Beersheba, a town associated since Genesis with the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac, appears among the towns resettled by Judah.
  28. Neemias 11:28Ziklag, a town that had already been King David's refuge centuries before he became king, is also inhabited once more.
  29. Neemias 11:29Three more towns in the territory of Judah receive settlers in this post-exilic territorial redistribution.
  30. Neemias 11:30The text sums up the geographic reach of the tribe of Judah in one simple line: from the town of Beersheba, in the far south, to the valley of Hinnom, already on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
  31. Neemias 11:31Now it is the tribe of Benjamin's turn to be mapped, beginning with towns north of Jerusalem, such as Michmash and Bethel.
  32. Neemias 11:32Anathoth, the hometown of the prophet Jeremiah, appears again among the territories resettled by Benjamin.
  33. Neemias 11:33Three more towns of the tribe of Benjamin complete this part of the territorial list.
  34. Neemias 11:34The list of towns of Benjamin keeps advancing, covering territory increasingly to the north and west of Jerusalem.
  35. Neemias 11:35The list of Benjamin ends at Lod and Ono, towns in a region described as “the valley of craftsmen,” probably known for specialized manual trades.
  36. Neemias 11:36The chapter closes by explaining that some Levites, who originally belonged to other tribes, ended up being relocated between the territories of Judah and Benjamin.

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