7:5 my God put it into my heart. See note on “hand of my God” at 2:8.

enrolled by genealogy. The purpose of this registration is to help repopulate Jerusalem, as will become clear when this topic is resumed in 11:1, 2.

book of the genealogy . . . at the first. On the theological significance of this list, see the note at Ezra 2:1–70. The repetition of the list underscores the continuity of Nehemiah’s generation with the first ones to return.