In Nehemiah 9, the people of Judah gathered for a period of repentance and confession. They and their fathers had neglected the Law of God, and their hearts were broken over it. The Levites stood up and prompted the people to worship the Lord by reciting some of His great deeds and His mercy on the nation of Israel throughout their history.

In Nehemiah 8, all the Jews gathered in Jerusalem to hear Ezra read from the Book of the Law of Moses. Ezra read from the book and then gave commentary to help the people understand. After hearing the reading, the people were sad, probably because they realized how negligent they had been in keeping God’s commands. They resolved to do better, and they started by observing the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Booths.

God prompted Nehemiah to register all the people of Jerusalem and make a genealogy. In the process, he found a book containing the names of those who were the first to return to Judah following the end of the Babylonian captivity (538 BC). The majority of Nehemiah 7 is a record of the registry Nehemiah discovered in that book. It is very similar to the registry recorded in Ezra 2.

Seeing that the walls of Jerusalem were nearly finished, and their threats of violence hadn’t worked, Sanballat and Tobiah attempted to lure Nehemiah out of the city under friendly pretenses. Nehemiah rejected their invitations, choosing instead to press forward with the wall project. After 52 days, Nehemiah and his men finally finished the wall, and the news quickly spread through the neighboring nations.

In Nehemiah 5, the people of Judah were suffering through a famine, and their hardship was made harder by the rich nobles of their land taking advantage of their struggle. Nehemiah rebuked the nobles for charging interest to their countrymen, something that was forbidden in God’s law, and ordered them to give back what they had taken. The nobles, unable to defend their actions, agreed to do as Nehemiah ordered.

In Nehemiah 4, Nehemiah and his men make progress rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. When they’re about halfway finished, and to prevent them from completing, the enemies of the Jews plan a violent attack. Thanks to God, the attack is thwarted, but Nehemiah’s men don’t let their guard down. They continue building with a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other.

After motivating the people of Judah to rebuild Jerusalem, Nehemiah organized them for the reconstruction. Nehemiah 3 is a record of the rebuilding and who was assigned to each part of the wall.

Nehemiah 2 documents Nehemiah’s journey from Susa, the capital of the Persian Empire, to Jerusalem. Along his journey, he made a few enemies, two are specifically named, Sanballat and Tobiah. After arriving in Jerusalem and inspecting the crumbling walls, Nehemiah inspired the Jews to rebuild them.

In Nehemiah 1, we are introduced to Nehemiah, a Jew who works as the cupbearer to the king of Persia in Susa. One day, some men come from Judah and report that the city of Jerusalem is in a terrible state. Ezra feels compelled to make the long journey to Jerusalem to help, but before asking leave from the king, he fasts and prays for God’s help.

Ezra chapter 10 is the final chapter in the book. It documents the solution to the problem introduced in chapter 9. The Jewish men had married foreign wives, women who did not share the religious convictions of the people of Judah. Their bad influence was dangerous to the nation. After being confronted with their sin, the men of Judah agreed to separate from these foreign women. Ezra and the leaders of Judah directed this significant cultural change from Jerusalem.

In Ezra 9, Ezra is devastated to find out that many of the leading men of Judah are ignoring the instructions of God and repeating the sins that got their forefathers expelled from the Promised Land. One sin in particular is highlighted, the intermarriage of Jews with the idolatrous foreigners of the land. Ezra grieves for his people’s guilt and his emotional prayer is recorded in the second half of the chapter.

Ezra 8 is a chapter of transition. Ezra and his fellow Jews prepare to make the 5-month journey from Babylonia to Jerusalem carrying an expensive gift for the Temple. With the help of God, they make the journey safely and deliver the gift to the priests in Jerusalem. Ezra 8 sets the stage for Ezra’s future work in Judah, calling the people to repentance, which will be discussed in chapters 9 and 10.

In Ezra 7, we are finally introduced to Ezra, a scribe and priest living in Babylonia. He decides to return to Judah to teach the people the commands and statutes of God. Artaxerxes, King of Persia, gives Ezra his blessing, and sends him back to Jerusalem with silver, gold, and provisions for the Temple of God. He instructs Ezra to teach God’s laws to the people and punish anyone who refuses to obey it.

King Darius ordered a search to be made in the royal archives to confirm that his predecessor, King Cyrus, decreed the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple. When the fact was confirmed, Darius ordered the adversaries of the Jews to stop opposing them. The Temple was completed in Darius’ 6th year. The Jews dedicated the building and celebrated the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.

After about 10 years of the Temple site sitting stagnant, Zerubbabel and Jeshua, with the encouragement of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, started working on the Temple again. They were confronted by Tattenai, a governor of the land, who demanded to know if they had royal authority for the project. When the Jews told him they did, he wrote to Darius, the king of Persia, to double check.

In Ezra 4, the non-Israelite inhabitants of Judah approach Zerubbabel and ask if they can participate in the Temple rebuilding project in Jerusalem. When their request is denied, they get angry and try to hinder the progress of the Jews. When a new king of Persia, Artaxerxes, ascends to the throne, they write him a letter, framing the Jews in a bad light, and convince him to make a royal decree halting the Temple project.

In Ezra 3, the returned exiles gather in Jerusalem to rebuild the Altar of Burnt Offerings and to reestablish the daily sacrifices at the Temple site. A few months later, they return, and Jeshua and Zerubbabel head up the Temple rebuilding project, beginning with the foundation.

After King Cyrus’ decree freeing the people of Judah to return home (Ezra 1), God’s people prepared to leave Mesopotamia and return to the Promised Land. Ezra 2 is an accounting of the people who made the journey, 49,897 in all. Several groups of people are highlighted including the priestly families, the Temple servants, the gatekeepers, and the families of the Tribe of Levi.

Ezra picks up where the Book of 2 Chronicles left off. At the end of 2 Chronicles, Jerusalem was destroyed, the Temple was demolished, and the people of Judah were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. Several decades later, the Babylonians were conquered by the Persians. The new Persian king, Cyrus, made a decree freeing the people of Judah to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. Ezra 1 documents the decree of Cyrus and the support he gave to the families of Judah to expedite the Temple project.  

When Cyrus King of Persia released the Jews from their Babylonian captivity around 538 BC, Sheshbazzar was appointed governor of Judah. He led the exiled people of Judah out of Mesopotamia and back Jerusalem. Sheshbazzar was instrumental in reconstructing the Jerusalem Temple. The original Temple, the Temple of Solomon, had been destroyed when the Babylonians conquered the city 50 years earlier (around 586 BC).