Nehemiah 7:4-6

New International Reader's Version

A List of People Who Returned to Judah

⁴ Jerusalem was large. It had a lot of room. But only a few people lived there. The houses hadn’t been rebuilt yet. ⁵ So my God gave me the idea and encouraged me to gather the people together. He also encouraged me to gather the nobles and officials together with them. He wanted me to list them by families. I found the family history of those who had been the first to return. Here is what I found written in it.

⁶ Nebuchadnezzar had taken many Jews away from the land of Judah. He had forced them to go to Babylon as prisoners. Now they returned to Jerusalem and Judah. All of them went back to their own towns. Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon.