King James Version · The Persian return
Nehemiah 3
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Then the rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they it, unto the tower of Hananeel. And next unto him builded the men of . And next to them builded the son of Imri. But the fish gate did the sons of build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof. And next unto them repaired the son of , the son of Koz. And next unto them repaired the son of , the son of Meshezabeel. And next unto them repaired the son of . And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their . Moreover the old repaired the son of , and the son of Besodeiah; they laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, and the locks thereof, and the bars thereof. And next unto them repaired the Gibeonite, and the Meronothite, the men of , and of , unto of the governor on this side the river. Next unto him repaired the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths. Next unto him also repaired the son of one of the apothecaries, and they fortified unto the broad wall. And next unto them repaired the son of Hur, the ruler of the half part of . And next unto them repaired the son of Harumaph, even over against his house. And next unto him repaired the son of Hashabniah. the son of , and Hashub the son of , repaired the other piece, and the tower of the furnaces. And next unto him repaired the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of , he and his daughters. repaired , and the inhabitants of ; they built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and a thousand on the wall unto the dung gate. But the dung gate repaired Malchiah the son of , the ruler of part of Beth–haccerem; he built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof. But the of the fountain repaired the son of Col–hozeh, the ruler of part of ; he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of Siloah by the king’s garden, and unto the stairs that go down from . After him repaired the son of Azbuk, the ruler of the half part of , unto the place over against the sepulchres of , and to the pool that was made, and unto the house of the mighty. After him repaired the , the son of . Next unto him repaired , the ruler of the half part of , in his part. 18After him repaired their brethren, the son of , the ruler of the half part of . And next to him repaired the son of , the ruler of , another piece over against the going up to the armoury at the turning of the wall. After him the son of earnestly repaired the other piece, from the turning of the wall unto the door of the house of the . After him repaired the son of the son of Koz another piece, from the door of the house of even to the end of the house of . And after him repaired the priests, the men of the plain. After him repaired and Hashub over against their house. After him repaired the son of the son of Ananiah by his house. After him repaired the son of another piece, from the house of unto the turning of the wall, even unto the corner. the son of , over against the turning of the wall, and the tower which lieth out from the king’s high house, that was by the court of the prison. After him the son of . Moreover the Nethinims dwelt in , unto the place over against the water gate toward the east, and the tower that lieth out. After them the Tekoites repaired another piece, over against the great tower that lieth out, even unto the wall of . From above the horse gate repaired the priests, every one over against his house. After them repaired the son of over against his house. After him repaired also the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the east . 30After him repaired the son of , and the sixth son of Zalaph, another piece. After him repaired the son of over against his chamber. After him repaired Malchiah the goldsmith’s son unto the place of the Nethinims, and of the merchants, over against the Miphkad, and to the going up of the corner. And between the going up of the corner unto the sheep gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The Persian return, 539 BC to 332 BC ›
Persia takes Babylon and reverses its policy, sending exiled peoples home to rebuild their temples. Judah returns as a small province, rebuilding under imperial permission rather than independence.
- Persia
- The largest empire the world had yet seen, from the Indus to the Aegean, run through provinces, a royal road, and a postal system. Its policy on conquered peoples was to send them home and fund their temples, in exchange for loyalty and prayers for the king. The Cyrus Cylinder states the policy in Cyrus's own words, and Ezra opens with the same policy applied to Judah.
- Judah
- A small, poor province called Yehud, a fraction of the old kingdom, with a rebuilt temple that made the people who remembered the first one weep. No king, and no prospect of one. Leadership passes to priests and scribes, which shapes everything afterward.
- Greece
- Persia and Greece collide at Marathon and Salamis, Persia loses, and Athens spends the following decades on the Parthenon, tragedy, and Socrates. Herodotus writes the first history in order to explain that war. Then Plato and Aristotle, whose vocabulary the church will still be using at Nicaea eight centuries later.
- Further afield
- Rome throws out its kings and becomes a republic. In India and China this is the age of the Buddha's early followers and of Confucian teaching taking hold. More of what the world still thinks with was invented in this era than in almost any other.