The Nethinim were temple assistants who helped with the work in God's temple. This term appears only in books written after the Israelites returned from exile (1 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah). The word "Nethinim" comes from the Hebrew verb "nathan," which means "to give, set apart, or dedicate." So the term means "those given" or "those set apart for service."
The Greek translation of the Old Testament (called the Septuagint) translates this word as dedomenoi. Some recent translators have followed the Jewish historian Josephus by referring to them as “temple slaves” (Antiquities 11.5.1). The Berean Standard Bible translates it “temple servants.” The New Living Translation translates it "temple assistants."
Before the exile (when many Israelites were taken to Babylon), the Nethinim worked in temple service. First Chronicles 9:2 lists them with the priests and Levites who took possession of their assigned cities. The order in which they are listed—priests, Levites, and Nethinim—shows that they had a role below the Levites (see also Nehemiah 7:73; 11:3, 20–21). They returned from exile as temple servants (Ezra 2:43, 58; 7:7, 24; 8:17, 20; Nehemiah 7:46, 60). They lived in Jerusalem (Ezra 7:7; Nehemiah 3:31; 11:21). They helped repair the city walls (Nehemiah 3:26).
We cannot be completely certain about who exactly the Nethinim were. Numbers 31:47 rells us that the Levites received captives who were given hard and basic tasks. When the Gibeonites were accepted into Israel as servants, they too were assigned to carry water and chop wood for the entire community and for the altar of the Lord (Joshua 9:9–27). King David increased the number of people serving at the tabernacle by assigning prisoners of war to perform these duties (Ezra 8:20). When the temple was completed, more workers were needed for temple services, and King Solomon added to their number. This new group became known as “the servants of Solomon.”
Ezra records that 392 Nethinim returned from exile to Jerusalem (2:58). They performed the duties in the rebuilt temple that their ancestors did before the exile. The Israelites considered the Nethinim full members of the restored covenant community. The Nethinim devoted themselves to God (Nehemiah 10:28).