These searched for their genealogical records, but couldn’t find them. Therefore were they deemed disqualified and removed from the priesthood.
Parallel translations
- KJV These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but it was not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.
- BSB These men searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean.
- NKJV These sought their listing among those who were registered by genealogy, but it was not found; therefore they were excluded from the priesthood as defiled.
- NASB These searched among their ancestral registration, but it could not be located; therefore they were considered unclean and disqualified from the priesthood.
- NLT They searched for their names in the genealogical records, but they were not found, so they were disqualified from serving as priests.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
These men searched the genealogies, could not find their records, and were therefore excluded from the priesthood. Lineage mattered for priestly service.
Overview
Without documented descent from Aaron, these claimants were ruled unfit to serve as priests, being treated as ceremonially disqualified. This careful exclusion guarded the purity of temple worship against unauthorized ministry. It reveals how seriously God takes the qualifications for approaching Him, and magnifies the grace by which Christ qualifies all who trust Him to draw near (Hebrews 10:19-22).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Neh 7:5My God put into my heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be listed by genealogy. I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found this written in it:
- 1 Chr 9:1So all Israel were listed by genealogies; and behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. Judah was carried away captive to Babylon for their disobedience.
- Neh 13:29Remember them, my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.
- Matt 22:11–13But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who didn’t have on wedding clothing,
- Matt 25:11–12Afterward the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’
- Lev 4:3if the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer for his sin, which he has sinned, a young bull without defect to Yahweh for a sin offering.
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Christ at the center
The rebuilt walls and renewed covenant community foreshadow the greater builder who gathers and secures a people for God, the one who declares 'I will build my church.'
How Nehemiah 7:64 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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