Nehemiah 11:20–36

Other Jews and their settlements

The rest of the Israelites, with the priests and Levites, were in all the towns of Judah, each on his ancestral property. 21 The temple servants lived on the hill of Ophel, and Ziha and Gishpa were in charge of them. 22 The chief officer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica. Uzzi was one of Asaph’s descendants, who were the singers responsible for the service of the house of God. 23 The singers were under the king’s orders, which regulated their daily activity.

24 Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, one of the descendants of Zerah son of Judah, was the king’s agent in all affairs relating to the people.

25 As for the villages with their fields, some of the people of Judah lived in Kiriath Arba and its surrounding settlements, in Dibon and its settlements, in Jekabzeel and its villages, 26 in Jeshua, in Moladah, in Beth Pelet, 27in Hazar Shual, in Beersheba and its settlements, 28 in Ziklag, in Meconah and its settlements, 29 in En Rimmon, in Zorah, in Jarmuth, 30 Zanoah, Adullam and their villages, in Lachish and its fields, and in Azekah and its settlements. So they were living all the way from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom.

31 The descendants of the Benjamites from Geba lived in Micmash, Aija, Bethel and its settlements, 32 in Anathoth, Nob and Ananiah, 33 in Hazor, Ramah and Gittaim, 34 in Hadid, Zeboim and Neballat, 35 in Lod and Ono, and in the Valley of the Craftsmen.

36Some of the divisions of the Levites of Judah settled in Benjamin.

This last section of the list contains miscellaneous observations on the settlements of the people. We might expect the information on the Levitical officers to have been included in the preceding section. Pethahiah (verse 24) apparently was the official representative of the Persian king in his dealings with the Jews. The “king’s orders” that regulated the singers may have been delivered through him, unless this phrase refers back to the original orders issued by David when he instituted the temple singing centuries earlier (1 Chronicles 25).

Ophel, the home of the temple servants, was the hill just south of the temple mountain in Jerusalem. 

The cities listed in the last paragraph were spread throughout Judah from Beersheba in the extreme south to the Hinnom Valley, which is the southern border of Jerusalem. This list shows that the Jews had reestablished themselves throughout all areas of Judea. (See the map entitled “Judah after the return,” for the locations of some of these cities.) The cities of Benjamin lay just north of Jerusalem, between Jerusalem and Samaria. Some of the Levites previously assigned to Judah moved to this territory, apparently because it was short of Levites.