Bible Strands
Nehemiah 11:19
And the gatekeepers: Akkub, Talmon, and their associates, who kept watch at the gates—172 men.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Nehemiah records the post-exilic population roster for Jerusalem following the wall's completion. The passage isolates the administrative and security personnel assigned to the holy city.
The words — The text names the gatekeepers (שׁוֹעֲרִים, sho.'a.Rim) as Akkub and Talmon, specifying they were the ones who kept watch (שֹׁמְרִים, sho.me.Rim) at the gates. It explicitly states their total count as 172 men.
The thread — This roster aligns with the guard lists in Nehemiah 7:45 and 1 Chronicles 9:17, where Akkub and Talmon appear among the hereditary gatekeepers. Nehemiah 12:25 later notes these same men guarding the temple storerooms at the gates.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to recognize that civic and religious order depended on assigned personnel rather than voluntary service. It establishes that security duties were structured, numbered, and distributed among specific families.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Moreover the porters, Akkub, Talmon, and their brethren that kept the gates, were an hundred seventy and two.
Cross-references
- 1 Chronicles 9:17 These were the gatekeepers: Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their relatives. Shallum was their chief;
- Nehemiah 7:45 The gatekeepers: the descendants of Shallum, the descendants of Ater, the descendants of Talmon, the descendants of Akkub, the descendants of Hatita, and the descendants of Shobai, 138 in all.
- Nehemiah 12:25 Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers who guarded the storerooms at the gates.
- Psalms 84:10 For better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.