7 When we had built the wall, we fixed the doors in their places. We chose men to be guards for the city's gates. We also chose singers and Levites to serve God. ² I gave authority over Jerusalem to my brother Hanani and to Hananiah. Hananiah was the leader of the men in Jerusalem's strong building. He was a faithful man who respected God more than many men do. ³ I said to them, ‘Do not open Jerusalem's gates until the sun is high in the sky. Shut the gates and lock them while the guards are still there. Choose people who live in Jerusalem to be guards for the city. Some guards must stand at the city's gates. Other guards must stand near their own houses.’

People who came back from the exile

⁴ Jerusalem was a large city, but not many people lived in it. We had not yet built many houses. ⁵ It was not easy to keep the city safe. Then God put an idea in my mind. I called the leaders, the officers and the other people to meet together. I wanted to check the lists of their families. I found the list of those people who had first returned to Jerusalem.^[a]

⁶ This is the list of the Jews who returned to Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah. King Nebuchadnezzar had taken them away as prisoners to Babylon. Now each of them had returned to live in his own town. ⁷ These people came from Babylon with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum and Baanah.

This is a list of the number of men in each Israelite clan who returned:

²⁶ The number of men who belonged to these towns:

³⁹ These priests also returned:

⁴³ These Levites also returned:

⁴⁶ These were the families of the temple servants who returned:

⁵⁷ These were the servants of King Solomon whose descendants returned:

⁶⁰ The temple servants and the descendants of Solomon's servants were 392 men.

⁶¹ There were some people who came from the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon and Immer. But they had no lists to show that they belonged to Israelite families.

⁶² There were from the clans of Delaiah, Tobiah and Nekoda: 642.

⁶³ There were also some priests from the clans of Hobaiah, Hakkoz and Barzillai. (Barzillai was a man who had married a daughter of Barzillai, who came from Gilead. So he took Barzillai's name for himself.) ⁶⁴ These people could not find any lists to show who their ancestors were. Because of this, they could not serve God as priests.^{[b] 65} The officer who ruled in Judah said that they must not eat the priests' special food. They must wait until there was a priest who could use the Urim and Thummim to decide the right thing to do.^[c]

⁶⁶ The number of all the people who returned to Judea was 42,360. ⁶⁷ There were also 7,337 male and female servants, as well as 245 male and female singers. ⁶⁸ They had 736 horses and 245 mules, ⁶⁹ 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys.^[d]

⁷⁰ Some of the family leaders gave money to help build the wall. The officer who ruled there gave 8.5 kilograms of gold, 50 bowls and 530 sets of special clothes for the priests. ⁷¹ Some family leaders gave 170 kilograms of gold and 1,300 kilograms of silver. ⁷² The rest of the people gave 170 kilograms of gold and 1,300 kilograms of silver. They also gave 67 sets of special clothes for the priests.

⁷³ The priests, the Levites, the temple guards, the singers and the temple servants now lived in towns near Jerusalem. The other people also lived in the towns of Judah. When the seventh month of the year arrived, all the Israelite people were living in their towns and cities.