Bible Strands
Nehemiah 12:47
So in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside daily portions for the Levites, and the Levites set aside daily portions for the descendants of Aaron.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the post-exilic community's financial arrangements under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah. The passage concludes a historical account of temple restoration by detailing how the returned exiles sustained worship personnel.
The words — מְנָי֛וֹת (menaYot) denotes fixed daily rations, while נֹֽתְנִ֛ים (noteNim) describes the active giving of these provisions. These terms establish a structured, ongoing system of material support rather than a voluntary or one-time donation.
The thread — This practice of sustaining temple workers echoes the Levite inheritance laws in Numbers 18:21 and the post-exilic restoration of offerings recorded in 2 Chronicles 31:5 and Nehemiah 10:35. The text links the current community's obedience to earlier Davidic and Mosaic patterns of worship support.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to recognize that sustained worship depends on organized, community-funded provision for those who serve. It demands practical commitment to supporting religious functions rather than relying on spontaneous or individual generosity alone.
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
And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the porters, every day his portion: and they sanctified holy things unto the Levites; and the Levites sanctified them unto the children of Aaron.
Cross-references
- Numbers 18:21 Behold, I have given to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work they do, the service of the Tent of Meeting.
- 2 Chronicles 31:5 As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously provided the firstfruits of the grain, new wine, oil, and honey, and of all the produce of the field, and they brought in an abundance—a tithe of everything.
- Nehemiah 10:35 We will also bring the firstfruits of our land and of every fruit tree to the house of the LORD year by year.
- Nehemiah 11:23 For there was a command from the king concerning the singers, an ordinance regulating their daily activities.
- Nehemiah 12:1 Now these are the priests and Levites who went up with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,
- Nehemiah 12:12 In the days of Joiakim, these were the heads of the priestly families: of the family of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;
- Nehemiah 12:26 They served in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe.
- Nehemiah 13:10 I also learned that because the portions for the Levites had not been given to them, all the Levites and singers responsible for performing the service had gone back to their own fields.
- Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.
- Galatians 6:6 Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word must share in all good things with his instructor.