Bible Strands
Nehemiah 12:29
from Beth-gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for they had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the geographic origins of the Levitical singers assembling for Jerusalem's dedication. This occurs during the post-exilic restoration as the community gathers to complete the wall's consecration.
The words — חֲצֵרִים (ḥāṣērîm) translates literally to "villages," denoting the settled residential outposts the singers constructed around Jerusalem. בָּנ֤וּ (bānū) is the verb "they had built," indicating the prior construction activity that established their infrastructure.
The thread — The text names Beth-gilgal, which appears in Joshua 10:43 as a military camp and Joshua 5:9 as a site of covenant renewal. Deuteronomy 11:30 similarly cites Gilgal as a geographic landmark west of the Jordan.
Why it lands — The passage states that worship and purification follow the practical reality of established local communities. It requires the reader to acknowledge that spiritual restoration depends on settled, everyday life rather than isolated devotion.
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
Also from the house of Gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the singers had builded them villages round about Jerusalem.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 11:30 Are not these mountains across the Jordan, west of the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak of Moreh?
- Joshua 5:9 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So that place has been called Gilgal to this day.
- Joshua 10:43 Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.
- Joshua 21:17 And from the tribe of Benjamin they gave them Gibeon, Geba,
- 1 Chronicles 6:60 And from the tribe of Benjamin they were given Gibeon, Geba, Alemeth, and Anathoth, together with their pasturelands. So they had thirteen cities in all among their families.
- Ezra 2:24 the descendants of Azmaveth, 42;
- Nehemiah 11:31 The descendants of Benjamin from Geba lived in Michmash, Aija, and Bethel with its villages;