Passage

Nehemiah 12.22-23

Book: Nehemiah · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

20. of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber; 21. of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.

22. As for the Levites, in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, there were recorded the heads of fathers' houses; also the priests, in the reign of Darius the Persian. 23. The sons of Levi, heads of fathers' houses, were written in the book of the chronicles, even until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib.

And the chiefs of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brethren over against them, to praise and give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, watch next to watch. 25. Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were porters keeping the watch at the store-houses of the gates. (Nehemiah 12:20-25, ASV)

WEB

20. of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber; 21. of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.

22. As for the Levites, in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, there were recorded the heads of fathers’ households; also the priests, in the reign of Darius the Persian. 23. The sons of Levi, heads of fathers’ households, were written in the book of the chronicles, even until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib.

The chiefs of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers close to them, to praise and give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, watch next to watch. 25. Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were porters keeping the watch at the storehouses of the gates. (Nehemiah 12:20-25, WEB)

KJV

20. Of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber; 21. Of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethaneel.

22. The Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, were recorded chief of the fathers: also the priests, to the reign of Darius the Persian. 23. The sons of Levi, the chief of the fathers, were written in the book of the chronicles, even until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib.

And the chief of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brethren over against them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, ward over against ward. 25. Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were porters keeping the ward at the thresholds of the gates. ^{thresholds: or, treasuries, or, assemblies} (Nehemiah 12:20-25, KJV)

YLT

20. of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber; 21. of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethaneel.

22. The Levites, in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, are written, heads of fathers, and of the priests, in the kingdom of Darius the Persian. 23. Sons of Levi, heads of the fathers, are written on the book of the Chronicles even till the days of Johanan son of Eliashib;

and heads of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua son of Kadmiel, and their brethren, [are] over-against them, to give praise, to give thanks, by command of David the man of God, charge over-against charge. 25. Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, [are] gatekeepers, keeping charge in the gatherings of the gates. (Nehemiah 12:20-25, YLT)

See this page's graph and discover linked topics

Setting

Speaker: the narrator or compiler of the priestly and Levitical records
Audience: the readers
Location: Jerusalem
Time period: the records run "in the reign of Darius the Persian" (Nehemiah 12:22), identified by many with Darius II (423-404 BC) and by some with a later Darius

Theological reading

These verses note where the Levitical records were kept and how far they ran. Heads of fathers' houses were "recorded" in the days of the high priests "Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua," and "written in the book of the chronicles, even until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib." The line matches the high-priestly succession given just before: "Jeshua begat Joiakim, and Joiakim begat Eliashib, and Eliashib begat Joiada, and Joiada begat Jonathan, and Jonathan begat Jaddua" (Nehemiah 12:10-11). In 12:23 Johanan is called "son of Eliashib," where the list in 12:10-11 makes Eliashib's son Joiada; "son" in Hebrew genealogies can mean descendant. Ezra also mentions "the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib" (Ezra 10:6).

The concern is legitimate ministry. The restored community kept registers so that those who served at the altar could show their descent; those whose register "was not found" were "deemed polluted and put from the priesthood" (Nehemiah 7:64). The "book of the chronicles" here is a record of the time and need not be the biblical book of that name.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

H7218 - rosh, rosh, Strong's H7218
H3548 - kohen, kohen, Strong's H3548
H0001 - ab, ab, Strong's H0001
H1697 - dabar, dabar, Strong's H1697
H1121 - ben, ben, Strong's H1121

Quoted in

Concepts:

Elephantine Papyri

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.