These men searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean.
Parallel translations
- WEB These searched for their genealogical records, but couldn’t find them. Therefore were they deemed disqualified and removed from the priesthood.
- 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.
- 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 7:5Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials, and the people to be enrolled by genealogy. I found the genealogical register of those who had first returned, and I found the following written in it:
- 1 Chr 9:1So all Israel was recorded in the genealogies written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. But Judah was exiled to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness.
- Neh 13:29Remember them, O 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 spotted a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes.
- Matt 25:11–12Later the other virgins arrived and said, ‘Lord, lord, open the door for us!’
- Lev 4:3If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without blemish as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.
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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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.