gatekeepers

¹¹For one day in your courts is better than thousands elsewhere. I have chosen to be lowly in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners.

¹Now the divisions of the porters were, from the Korahites: Meshelemiah, the son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph. ²The sons of Meshelemiah: Zechariah the firstborn, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth, ³Elam the fifth, Jehohanan the sixth, Eliehoenai the seventh. ⁴Then the sons of Obededom: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sachar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth, ⁵Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, Peullethai the eighth. For the Lord had blessed him. ⁶Now to his son Shemaiah, there were born sons, rulers of their families. For they were very strong men.

¹⁷Now the gatekeepers were Shallum, and Akkub, and Talmon, and Ahiman; and their brother Shallum was the leader. ¹⁸For until that time, at the gate of the king to the east, the sons of Levi served in their turns. ¹⁹Truly, Shallum, the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, with his brothers and his father’s house, these Korahites, were over the works of the ministry of keeping the vestibules of the tabernacle. And their families, in turns, were keepers of the entrance to the camp of the Lord. ²⁰Now Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, was their ruler before the Lord. ²¹But Zechariah, the son of Meshelemiah, was the keeper of the gate of the tabernacle of the testimony. ²²All these, chosen as porters for the gates, were two hundred twelve. And they were recorded in their own towns, those whom David, and the seer Samuel, appointed, in their faith,

⁴“Go to Hilkiah, the high priest, so that the money may be put together which has been brought into the temple of the Lord, which the doorkeepers of the temple have collected from the people.

¹⁴And he appointed, in accord with the plan of his father David, the offices of the priests in their ministries; and those of the Levites, in their orders, so that they might praise and minister before the priests according to the ritual of each day; and the porters, in their divisions, from gate to gate. For so had David, the man of God, instructed.

²⁵Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were keepers of the gates and of the vestibules before the gates.

⁵Moreover, four thousand were porters. And the same number were the singers of psalms to the Lord, with the musical instruments which he had made for the music.

¹⁹Also, he appointed porters at the gates of the house of the Lord, so that whoever was unclean for any reason would not enter.

²³And Berechiah and Elkanah were porters of the ark. ²⁴And the priests, Shebaniah, and Joshaphat, and Nethanel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, were sounding the trumpets before the ark of God. And Obededom and Jehiah were porters of the ark.

⁶Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have stationed watchmen all day and all night unceasingly; they will not be silent. You who are mindful of the Lord, you should not be silent, ⁷and you should not grant silence to him, until he makes firm and establishes Jerusalem as a praise upon the earth. ⁸The Lord has sworn with his right hand and with the arm of his strength: “Certainly, I will no longer permit your grain to be the food of your enemies. And the sons of foreigners will not drink your wine, for which you have labored.” ⁹For those who gather it will eat it, and they will praise the Lord. And those who bring it together will drink it in my holy courts. ¹⁰Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare a way for the people! Make the road level, remove the stones, and lift up a sign for the people!

¹³Truly, scribes and teachers, from among the Levites who were porters, were over those who were carrying burdens for various uses.

¹Then, after the wall was built, and I set up the double doors, and I enrolled the gatekeepers, and the singing men, and the Levites, ²I instructed Hanani, my brother, and Hananiah, the leader of the house of Jerusalem, (for he seemed to be a truthful man, fearing God more than the others,) ³and I said to them: “Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot.” And while they were standing there, the gates were closed and barred. And I stationed guards from the inhabitants of Jerusalem, each one in his turn, and each one opposite his own house.

¹⁴Yet truly, Kore, the son of Imnah, a Levite and the porter of the eastern gate, was the overseer of the things that were being offered freely to the Lord, and of the first-fruits, and of the things consecrated for the Holy of Holies.

¹⁰And when they had arrived at the gate of the city, they explained to them, saying: “We went into the camp of the Syrians, and we found no one in that place, except horses and donkeys tied, and the tents still standing.” ¹¹Therefore, the gatekeepers went and reported it in the palace of the king.

¹⁹And the gatekeepers, Akkub, Talmon, and their brothers, who guarded the doorways, were one hundred seventy-two.

³To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name, and he leads them out.

⁴²The sons of the gatekeepers: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai: altogether one hundred thirty-nine.

¹Act now, you who are wealthy! Weep and wail in your miseries, which will soon come upon you! ²Your riches have been corrupted, and your garments have been eaten by moths. ³Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be a testimony against you, and it will eat away at your flesh like fire. You have stored up wrath for yourselves unto the last days. ⁴Consider the pay of the workers who reaped your fields: it has been misappropriated by you; it cries out. And their cry has entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts. ⁵You have feasted upon the earth, and you have nourished your hearts with luxuries, unto the day of slaughter. ⁶You led away and killed the Just One, and he did not resist you.