Nehemiah 7:1
What does Nehemiah 7:1 mean?
A plain-English look at Nehemiah 7:1 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Nehemiah 7:1 means
This verse marks the transition from construction to consolidation. With the wall and doors completed, Nehemiah immediately organizes the city’s life. Gatekeepers secure the entrances, singers lead worship, and Levites oversee sacred service. It shows that rebuilding Jerusalem was never merely about defense; it was to restore a God-centered community. Order and worship go together: guarding the city and guarding its praise. Nehemiah understands that structure supports devotion. The appointments suggest continuity with temple patterns from earlier days and highlight that the city’s health depends not only on walls of stone but also on faithful people fulfilling their roles before God and among their neighbors.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed,
KJV
King James Version · 1611Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed,
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed,
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Now when the building of the wall was complete and I had put up the doors, and the door-keepers and the music-makers and the Levites had been given their places,
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And it cometh to pass, when the wall hath been built, that I set up the doors, and the gatekeepers are appointed, and the singers, and the Levites,
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Now after the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and numbered the porters and singing men, and Levites:
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And it came to pass when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, that the doorkeepers and the singers and the Levites were appointed.
Context
Verse 1 opens the chapter after the wall’s completion, moving from physical restoration to administrative and spiritual ordering. The appointments create categories for civil security (porters) and temple life (singers, Levites). This frame prepares the reader for leadership selections in verse 2 and security protocols in verse 3. The emphasis on roles signals that the work is not finished at the wall’s completion; rather, a functioning, worshiping community must now be established, setting the stage for the subsequent registration of the people by genealogy in verses 5 and following.
v.1This passage
v.2that I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the governor of the castle, charge over Jerusalem; for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Ezra 3:8
Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem, and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of the house of Jehovah.
- Nehemiah 6:15
So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifthdayofthe monthElul, in fifty and two days.
- Nehemiah 12:24
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.
- Nehemiah 3:1
Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Hammeah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananel.
- 1 Chronicles 23:1
Now David was old and full of days; and he made Solomon his son king over Israel.
- 1 Chronicles 25:1
Moreover David and the captains of the host set apart for the service certain of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals: and the number of them that did the work according to their service was:
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