38. The second thanksgiving choir proceeded to the left where I followed them with the other half of the people on top of the wall, from the Tower of the Furnaces to the Broad Wall,
39. then from above the Ephraim Gate past the Old Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate, but they stood still at the Gate of the Guard.
40. So the two thanksgiving choirs stood in the house of God, as did I and the half of the officials with me,
41. and the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets,
42. and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malkijah, Elam, and Ezer. The singers sang loudly. Jezrahiah was their director.
43. On that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great cause for rejoicing. The wives and the children rejoiced, too. From far away the joyful celebration of Jerusalem was heard.
44. At that time men were appointed to govern over the chambers for the treasures, for the contributions, for the first fruits, and for the tithes, so that they might gather into them out of the fields of the cities the legal portions belonging to the priests and Levites. This was because the celebration of Judah survived on the basis of the priests and the Levites
45. who, accompanied by the singers and the gatekeepers, attentively preserved the practices of their God and the practices of purification, according to the commandment of David and of his son Solomon.
46. For in the former days of David and Asaph there were leaders for the singers, the songs of praise, and thanksgivings to God.
47. All Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah gave the singers and the gatekeepers their portions, as specified daily. Likewise, they consecrated what was due to the Levites, who then consecrated what was due to the descendants of Aaron.