The list of priests is given next after the list of the leaders. Of the priests is rendered in the Good News Translation as a subheading: “Priests.” The list is inconsistent in its form. The three names cited in this verse are cited in the same order in 1 Chr 9.10, but there they are three separate individuals instead of two as here. The three men in 1 Chronicles could not be the same people in the time of Nehemiah. There the second name is spelled “Jehoiarib.” Some commentators suggest that Jachin is a mistake for “son of” in Hebrew and that the whole list in verses 10-11 is the ancestry of Jedaiah. This is the interpretation of Revised English Bible, which also changes “their brethren” in verse 12 to “his brethren.” Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation follow the Hebrew text for this verse. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives an A rating to this text with all its difficulties, and this is recommended to translators. Contemporary English Version tries to solve the problem of the genealogy by saying that Jedaiah “was the son of Joiarib and the uncle of Jachin,” but this is not recommended to translators.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Nehemiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .