World English Bible · The Persian return
Nehemiah 7
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Now when the wall was built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers and the singers and the were appointed, I put my brother , and the governor of the , in charge of ; for he was a man and feared above many. I said to them, "Don't let the of be opened until the sun is hot; and while they stand guard, let them shut the doors, and you bar them; and appoint watches of the inhabitants of , everyone in his watch, with everyone near his house." Now the city was wide and large; but the people were few therein, and the houses were not built. My put into to gather together the nobles, and the , and the people, that they might be listed by genealogy. I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found this written in it: These are the children of the province who went up out of of those who had been , whom the king of had , and who returned to and to Judah, everyone to his city, who came with , , , , Raamiah, Nahamani, , Bilshan, Mispereth, , Nehum, and . The number of the men of the people of Israel: The children of : two thousand one hundred seventy-two. The children of Shephatiah: three hundred seventy-two. The children of Arah: six hundred fifty-two. The children of , of the children of and : two thousand eight hundred eighteen. The children of : one thousand two hundred fifty-four. The children of : eight hundred forty-five. The children of : seven hundred sixty. The children of : six hundred forty-eight. The children of : six hundred twenty-eight. The children of : two thousand three hundred twenty-two. The children of : six hundred sixty-seven. The children of : two thousand sixty-seven. The children of : six hundred fifty-five. The children of : of , ninety-eight. The children of : three hundred twenty-eight. The children of : three hundred twenty-four. The children of Hariph: one hundred twelve. The children of : ninety-five. The men of and Netophah: one hundred eighty-eight. The men of : one hundred twenty-eight. The men of Beth Azmaveth: forty-two. The men of , , and : seven hundred forty-three. The men of and : six hundred twenty-one. The men of Michmas: one hundred twenty-two. The men of and : one hundred twenty-three. The men of the other : fifty-two. The children of the other : one thousand two hundred fifty-four. The children of : three hundred twenty. The children of : three hundred forty-five. The children of , Hadid, and Ono: seven hundred twenty-one. The children of Senaah: three thousand nine hundred thirty. The priests: The children of , of the house of : nine hundred seventy-three. The children of : one thousand fifty-two. The children of : one thousand two hundred forty-seven. The children of : one thousand seventeen. The : the children of , of , of the children of Hodevah: seventy-four. The singers: the children of : one hundred forty-eight. The gatekeepers: the children of , the children of , the children of , the children of , the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai: one hundred thirty-eight. servants: the children of , the children of , the children of , the children of , the children of Sia, the children of , the children of Lebana, the children of Hagaba, the children of Salmai, 49the children of , the children of , the children of , 50the children of , the children of , the children of , the children of Gazzam, the children of , the children of , the children of , the children of , the children of Nephushesim, 53the children of , the children of , the children of , the children of Bazlith, the children of , the children of , the children of , the children of , the children of , 56the children of , and the children of . The children of servants: the children of , the children of , the children of Perida, the children of , the children of , the children of , the children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Hazzebaim, and the children of Amon. All servants and the children of servants were three hundred ninety-two. These were those who went up from Tel Melah, Tel , , Addon, and ; but they could not show their fathers' houses, nor their , whether they were of Israel: The children of , the children of , the children of : six hundred forty-two. Of the priests: the children of Hobaiah, the children of , the children of , who took a wife of the daughters of the Gileadite, and was called after their name. These searched for their genealogical records, but couldn't find them. Therefore they were deemed disqualified and removed from the priesthood. The governor told them not to eat of the most things until a priest stood up to minister with . The whole together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty, in addition to their male servants and their female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven. They had two hundred forty-five singing men and singing women. Their horses were seven hundred thirty-six; their mules, two hundred forty-five; 69their camels, four hundred thirty-five; their donkeys, six thousand seven hundred twenty. Some from among the heads of fathers' households gave to the work. The governor gave to the one thousand darics of gold, fifty basins, and five hundred thirty priests' garments. Some of the heads of fathers' households gave into the of the work twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand two hundred of silver. 72That which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand darics of gold, plus two thousand of silver, and sixty-seven priests' garments. So the priests, the , the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, servants, and all Israel lived in their cities. When the seventh month had come, the were in their cities.
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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.