On the sealed documents were the following names: ¹  Nehemiah the governor, son of Hacaliah, along with Zedekiah,

“You are the LORD God who chose Abram and brought him forth from Ur of the Chaldeans. You changed his name to Abraham.

And from among the priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, and the descendants of Barzillai (who had married a woman from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that name).

You performed awesome signs ¹  against Pharaoh, against his servants, and against all the people of his land, for you knew that the Egyptians ²  had acted presumptuously ³  against them. You made for yourself a name that is celebrated to this day.

(10:1) ¹  “Because of all of this we are entering into a binding covenant ²  in written form; ³  our leaders, our Levites, and our priests have affixed their names ⁴  on the sealed document.”

But if you repent ¹  and obey ²  my commandments and do them, then even if your dispersed people are in the most remote location, ³  I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen for my name to reside.’

The Levites – Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah – said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God!” “May you be blessed, O LORD our God, from age to age. ¹  May your glorious name ²  be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise.

Please, ¹  O Lord, listen attentively ²  to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who take pleasure in showing respect ³  to your name. Grant your servant success today and show compassion to me ⁴  in the presence of this man.” Now ⁵  I was cupbearer for the king.

I gave instructions ¹  that Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a certain Levite named Pedaiah be put in charge of ²  the storerooms, and that Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, be their assistant, ³  for they were regarded as trustworthy. It was then their responsibility to oversee the distribution to their colleagues. ⁴ 

the descendants of Ater (through Hezekiah), 98;

The priests: the descendants of Jedaiah (through the family ¹  of Jeshua), 973;

the descendants of Pahath-Moab (from the line ¹  of Jeshua and Joab), 2,818;

The Levites: the descendants of Jeshua (through Kadmiel, through the line of Hodaviah), 74.

He had been hired to scare me so that I would do this and thereby sin. They would thus bring reproach on me and I ¹  would be discredited. ² 

So I entered a complaint with them. I called down a curse on them, and I struck some of the men and pulled out their hair. I had them swear by God saying, “You will not marry off ¹  your daughters to their sons, and you will not take any of their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves!

The Levites were as follows: Jeshua ¹  son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel.

Please remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, the covenant of the priesthood, ¹  and the Levites.

They searched for their records in the genealogical materials, but none were found. They were therefore excluded ¹  from the priesthood.

Then the Levites – Jeshua, Binnui, ¹  Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Kenani – stood on the steps and called out loudly ²  to the LORD their God.

I responded to them by saying, “The God of heaven will prosper us. We his servants will start the rebuilding. ¹  But you have no just or ancient right in Jerusalem.” ²