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Verses 70-73

Compared with Ezra 2:69 there is considerable difference between the totals for gold, silver, and garments. The usual explanation is that of corruption in the one or the other of the passages.

Nehemiah 7:73

Dwelt in their cities - Nehemiah‘s quotation from Zerubbabel‘s register ends here, and the narration of events in Jerusalem in his own day is resumed from Nehemiah 7:3. The narrative Nehemiah 7:73 should stand as the beginning of Nehemiah 8 (as in the Septuagint). The text would then run: “And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in their cities, the whole people gathered themselves together as one man,” etc. Compare the margin reference.

Nehemiah knew that the safety of a city, under God, depends more upon the inhabitants than upon its walls. Every good gift and every good work are from above. God gives knowledge, he gives grace; all is of him, and therefore all must be to him. What is done by human prudence, must be ascribed to the direction of Divine Providence. But woe to those who turn back from the Lord, loving this present world! and happy those who dedicate themselves, and their substance, to his service and glory!