Nehemiah 3

Nehemiah 3:1

The *Jews build Jerusalem’s city wall again An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on the Book of Nehemiah www.easyenglish.info Robert Bryce and Robert Betts This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 3 In this chapter, there are many names. The Bible does not mention most of these people elsewhere. Many of them were the leaders of families, but only a few were important in the local region. They were not builders and they had no special skills to do the work. But they realised that Nehemiah was right. And they were willing to work hard. They lived many centuries ago, but they did an important job for God. God cares about all sorts of people. And he is pleased when they serve him well.

Nehemiah was a good leader, but he could not build the walls alone. He needed many people to help him. He was pleased with their work. So he recorded their names and the jobs that they did.

These people deserved honour. Their families had returned to *Judah from *exile. They were God’s own people. And they worked hard to do God’s work. Nehemiah organised the work carefully. He gave each person responsibility for one section of the wall. And Nehemiah chose the sections carefully. For example, often the men repaired the section of wall that was nearest to their own houses.

v1 Eliashib the chief priest and the priests who were with him built the Sheep Gate. They made it holy for God and they put the doors in the gate. They repaired the wall as far as the *Tower called Meah and the *Tower called Hananeel. Then they made the wall holy for God. v2 The men from Jericho built the next part of the wall. And Zaccur, the son of Imri, built the next section.

Verses 1-2

The first people that Nehemiah wrote about were the chief priest and the other priests. They did not think that they were too important to help. They were good models to the rest of the people. The Sheep Gate was probably near the *temple. Some people from other cities, like Jericho, also helped to build the walls.

v3 The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate and they put its beams in place. They put the doors in the gate. They fastened the locks and they put the bars into position. v4 Meremoth, the son of Urijah and grandson of Hakkoz, repaired the next part of the wall. Next to Meremoth, Meshullam made repairs. He was the son of Berekiah and was the grandson of Meshezabeel. Next to Meshullam, Zadok, son of Baana, made repairs. v5 Some men from Tekoa repaired the next section. But their leaders refused to do the work of God.

Verses 3-5

When Nehemiah records some of the names, he also mentions their families. He also does this often in the rest of his book. Families were very important to the *Jews. We can read about Meremoth in Ezra (Ezra 8:33).

Each person had his own special job to do.

The leaders from Tekoa were not like the priests. The leaders from Tekoa thought that they were too important. So they refused to do God’s work. But the other men from Tekoa did help to build the walls. In fact they did extra work (Nehemiah 3:27). Meshullam also did extra work (Nehemiah 3:30).

v6 Jehoiada, the son of Paseah, and Meshullam, the son of Besodeiah, repaired the Old Gate. They put its beams in place and they put the doors in the gate. They fastened the locks and they put the bars into position. v7 Melatiah from Gibeon, Jadon from Meronoth and the men from Gibeon and Mizpah repaired the next section of the wall. The ruler of the district beyond the River Euphrates ruled Gibeon and Mizpah. v8 Uzziel, the son of Harhaiah, repaired the next section of the wall. Uzziel was a skilled workman who made objects out of gold. Hananiah repaired the next part of the wall.

He was a skilled man who made *perfume. Uzziel and Hananiah repaired Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. v9 Rephaiah, the son of Hur, repaired the next section of the wall. Rephaiah was a ruler. He ruled half of the district of Jerusalem. v10 Jedaiah, the son of Harumaph, repaired the next part of the wall, which was near Jedaiah’s own house. Next to Jedaiah, Hattush, the son of Hashabniah, made repairs. v11 Malkijah, the son of Harim, and Hasshub, the son of Pahath-Moab, repaired another section of the wall. They also repaired the *Tower of the Ovens. v12 Shallum, the son of Hallohesh, repaired the next part of the wall.

Shallum’s daughters helped him. Shallum was also a ruler. He ruled over the other half of the district of Jerusalem.

Verses 6-11

Most of the people who built the wall were not skilled builders. They were normal people who had other jobs. Men who usually made *perfume or things of gold helped to build the walls.

Some people worked on the walls near their own houses. This was a good idea. They did not have far to travel and they could have their meals easily. They could also protect their families. Afterwards, they would see their work every day. This fact would encourage them to do good work.

Important men who ruled over some of the districts helped also. They did not think that they were too important to help. So they behaved as the priests did. They were not like the leaders from Tekoa, who refused to help.

Malkijah, the son of Harim, had married a foreign wife (Ezra 10:31), but God had told the *Jews not to marry foreigners. So Ezra was very angry with Malkijah. But now Malkijah helped to build the walls of Jerusalem.

Some women helped too. Shallum was another one of the leaders of the people. But he worked on the walls too and his daughters helped him.

v13 Hanun and the residents of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate. They built it again and they put the doors in place. They fastened the locks and they put the bars into position. They also repaired about 450 metres of the wall as far as the Rubbish Gate. v14 Malkijah, the son of Rechab, repaired the Rubbish Gate. He built it again and he put the doors in place. He fastened the locks and he put the bars into position.

Malkijah ruled the district called Beth Hakkerem. v15 Shallum, the son of Col-Hozeh, repaired the Fountain Gate. He built it again and he made a roof over it. He put the doors in place. He fastened the locks and he put the bars into position. Shallum also repaired the wall of the Pool called Siloam by the king’s garden. He repaired this wall as far as the steps that descended from David’s city.

Shallum ruled the district called Mizpah. v16 Next to him, Nehemiah, the son of Azbuk, repaired the wall in front of the graves of king David’s family. He repaired the wall as far as the pool that some people had made. He repaired it as far as the House of the Heroes. Nehemiah ruled half of the district called Beth-Zur.

Verses 13-16

Hanun and the residents of Zanoah worked hard. They repaired a gate and a very long section of the wall.

Malkijah, Shallum and Nehemiah helped to build the walls. They also were rulers of the districts. This is not the Malkijah who married a foreign wife (Nehemiah 3:11). Also this Nehemiah is not the same as the man who wrote the book.

v17 Next to him, the *Levites repaired another section of the wall. Rehum, the son of Bani, was one of the *Levites. Next to Rehum, Hashabiah made repairs. Hashabiah ruled half of the district called Keilah, and he made the repairs on behalf of his district. v18 Next to him, Binnui, the son of Henadad, and some men from Keilah repaired another section of the wall. Binnui ruled the other half of the district called Keilah. v19 Next to him, Ezer, the son of Jeshua, repaired the wall. He repaired it from a point opposite the hill where the store for the *weapons was.

He repaired as far as the bend in the wall. Ezer ruled Mizpah. v20 Next to him, Baruch, the son of Zabbai, repaired the wall. Baruch worked very hard. He repaired the wall from the bend to the door of the house of Eliashib, the chief priest. v21 Next to him, Meremoth, the son of Uriah and the grandson of Hakkoz, repaired another section. He repaired the wall from the door of Eliashib’s house as far as the end of this house. v22 Next to Meremoth, priests who lived near Jerusalem made repairs.

Verses 17-22

The *Levites also helped to build the wall. They and some priests worked on the wall near to the house of the chief priest.

Men from Keilah and their rulers worked together on part of the wall. And Ezer was another ruler who helped.

Clearly, all the people worked hard. They finished the work in 52 days (Nehemiah 6:15). But Nehemiah recorded that Baruch worked very hard. Meremoth probably worked very hard too, because he worked on two parts of the wall (Nehemiah 3:4).

v23 Beyond the priests, Benjamin and Hashub repaired the wall opposite their house. Next to them, Azariah, the son of Maaseiah and the grandson of Ananiah, repaired the wall near his own house. v24 Binnui, the son of Henadad, repaired the next section of the wall. He repaired it from Azariah’s house to the bend in the wall and the corner. v25-26 Palal, the son of Uzai, repaired from the bend and the *tower that stuck out from the king’s high palace. This house was near the guards’ yard. Next to Palal, Pedaiah, the son of Parosh, and the *temple servants who lived in Ophel repaired the wall. They repaired it as far as a point opposite the Water Gate on the east side.

And they repaired it as far as the *tower that stuck out. v27 Next to Pedaiah, the men from Tekoa repaired another part of the wall. This section began at a place opposite the large *tower that stuck out. They repaired it as far as the wall of Ophel. v28 Some priests repaired the wall from a point above the Horse Gate. Each priest repaired the part of the wall in front of his own house. v29 Next to them, Zadok, the son of Immer, repaired the part of the wall in front of his house. Next to him, Shemaiah, the son of Shechaniah, repaired another part of the wall. Shemaiah was the guard of the East Gate.

Verses 23-29

In this part of the wall, some more people repaired the wall near their own houses. Also Binnui repaired a second section of the wall (Nehemiah 3:18).

The *temple servants also helped to build the wall.

The men from Tekoa repaired another part of the wall (Nehemiah 3:5).

Some more priests worked on this part of the wall.

v30 Next to him were Hananiah, the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun, the 6th son of Zalaph. They repaired another part of the wall. Next to Hananiah and Hanun, Meshullam, the son of Berechiah, repaired the wall. He repaired the part of it that was in front of his room. v31 Next to him, Malchiah repaired the wall. Malchiah was a skilled workman who made objects out of gold. He repaired the wall as far as the house that the servants of the *temple and the merchants used. This house was opposite the Miphkad Gate. Malchiah also repaired the wall as far as the room above the corner of the wall. v32 The skilled workmen who made objects out of gold worked with the merchants. They repaired the wall from the room above the corner to the Sheep Gate.

Verses 30-32

Meshullam repaired a second part of the wall (Nehemiah 3:4).

More of the skilled workmen who made things out of gold helped to build the wall. Some merchants also helped.

Nehemiah started his report at the Sheep Gate (Nehemiah 3:1). He divided the work between many people and each had their own part to repair. Nehemiah’s report goes all round the wall and back to the Sheep Gate.

© 2006, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

November 2006

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var w0 = new Array;w0[0]=’<b%3EJews</b%3E ~ all the people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Or, just the people from the country called Judah.