Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Nehemiah 11:16 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 16. 16And Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the chief of the Levites, had the oversight of the outward business of the house of God.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse assigns Shabbethai and Jozabad oversight of external temple business.
Read It With
- Nehemiah 11:15–11:19
Read Nehemiah 11:15–11:19 together. This verse assigns Shabbethai and Jozabad oversight of external temple business. Read Nehemiah 11:15–11:19 as one complete scene: Levites oversee outside work, lead prayer and thanksgiving, and serve as gatekeepers, with named supervisors and totals.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The Levite sequence from external temple work through thanksgiving leadership and gatekeeping forms one service block. Its placement advances the book. The register joins administrative, liturgical, musical, and protective work rather than treating worship as platform performance alone. Within that movement, this verse assigns Shabbethai and Jozabad oversight of external temple business.
Read Nehemiah 11:15–19 together
Why these verses belong together: The Levite sequence from external temple work through thanksgiving leadership and gatekeeping forms one service block.
Verse 15. 15 Also of the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hashub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni;
Verse 16. 16 And Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the chief of the Levites, had the oversight of the outward business of the house of God.
Verse 17. 17 And Mattaniah the son of Micha, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, was the principal to begin the thanksgiving in prayer: and Bakbukiah the second among his brethren, and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.
Verse 18. 18 All the Levites in the holy city were two hundred fourscore and four.
Verse 19. 19 Moreover the porters, Akkub, Talmon, and their brethren that kept the gates, were an hundred seventy and two.
What Remains True
Within Nehemiah 11:15–11:19, Nehemiah 11:16 assigns Shabbethai and Jozabad oversight of external temple business. Healthy worship communities honor backstage, musical, administrative, and security labor together.
How It Can Shape Life
- At Nehemiah 11:16, attend to how the verse assigns Shabbethai and Jozabad oversight of external temple business. Include all service teams in planning, resourcing, rest, training, and recognition.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Nehemiah 11:15–11:19 — Levites, prayer leaders, singers, and gatekeepers serveSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Nehemiah 11:15–11:19, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Nehemiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, repeated roots, Persian titles, names, and translation controls.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Neh.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 11:15–11:19
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Nehemiah with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: A unit-bounded KJV comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, literary, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence in the notes is not treated as positive evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Nehemiah PDF, printed pp. 776–777, translation text and any translator notes printed for 11:15–11:19
Open source ↗