Nehemiah 7:8-38

A City Remembered by Families

8the descendants of Parosh, 2,172;

9the descendants of Shephatiah, 372;

10the descendants of Arah, 652;

11the descendants of Pahath-moab (through the line of Jeshua and Joab), 2,818;

12the descendants of Elam, 1,254;

13the descendants of Zattu, 845;

14the descendants of Zaccai, 760;

15the descendants of Binnui, 648;

16the descendants of Bebai, 628;

17the descendants of Azgad, 2,322;

18the descendants of Adonikam, 667;

19the descendants of Bigvai, 2,067;

20the descendants of Adin, 655;

21the descendants of Ater (through Hezekiah), 98;

22the descendants of Hashum, 328;

23the descendants of Bezai, 324;

24the descendants of Hariph, 112;

25the descendants of Gibeon, 95;

26the men of Bethlehem and Netophah, 188;

27the men of Anathoth, 128;

28the men of Beth-azmaveth, 42;

29the men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, 743;

30the men of Ramah and Geba, 621;

31the men of Michmash, 122;

32the men of Bethel and Ai, 123;

33the men of the other Nebo, 52;

34the descendants of the other Elam, 1,254;

35the descendants of Harim, 320;

36the men of Jericho, 345;

37the men of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, 721;

38and the descendants of Senaah, 3,930.

Berean Standard Bible

The genealogy continues with families and the numbers of people who returned. The list reaches from Parosh and Shephatiah through the men of Jericho and Senaah. It is a long record, but its repeated structure keeps the restored community from becoming an unnamed crowd.

the descendants of Parosh, 2,172;

The numbers are different from one family to another. Some groups are large, some are small, and each is still recorded as part of the people who returned. The list does not describe a city rebuilt by one famous leader. It remembers families whose names and histories belong to the community's future.

This record also creates continuity with the earlier return from exile. The people rebuilding Jerusalem are not inventing a new identity without a past. They are receiving a history, carrying it forward, and accepting responsibility for living as a people in the places named here.

The names are not interchangeable. Parosh has one number, Shephatiah another, and the record continues family by family until Senaah. We are not told the private stories behind each return, so we should not invent them. We are told enough to see that restoration has a human cost and a human scale. People must be counted, located, and remembered before a city can become a home again.

This kind of record can feel slow because it refuses to skip over the people who make a community ordinary. The wall may be the visible achievement, but these families are part of what the wall is for. A restored city is not only defended stone. It is a people with names, places, responsibilities, and a history that must be received rather than invented.

Questions

1 What does the genealogy record?

AnswerIt records the people who returned from captivity to Jerusalem and Judah, along with their families and numbers.

2 Where did the people settle?

AnswerThey returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town.

3 Why does the repeated list matter?

AnswerIt remembers ordinary families as part of the community's restoration.

4 What does the record connect?

AnswerIt connects the current restored community with the earlier return from exile.

What This Means for Us

Remember the people who make a neighborhood or church more than an institution. Keep names and histories from disappearing, and ask who is willing to take responsibility for particular places rather than only for general plans.

Prayer

Father, thank you for families, places, and histories. Help us remember the people who built before us and serve faithfully where you have placed us now. Amen.