Chapter 7
1 After the wall had been rebuilt and the gates hung, then the temple guards, the singers, and the other Levites were assigned their work.
2 I put my brother Hanani in charge of Jerusalem, along with Hananiah, the commander of the fortress, because Hananiah could be trusted, and he respected God more than most people did.
3 I said to them, "Don’t let the gates to the city be opened until the sun has been up for a while. And make sure that they are closed and barred before the guards go off duty at sunset. Choose people from Jerusalem to stand guard at different places around the wall and others to stand guard near their own houses."
4 Although Jerusalem covered a large area, not many people lived there, and no new houses had been built.
5 and that they had come with Zerubbabel, Joshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah.
6 A total of 392 descendants of temple workers and of Solomon’s servants returned.
7 In fact, the governor told them, "You cannot eat the food offered to God until he lets us know if you really are priests."
8 And so, by the seventh month, priests, Levites, temple guards, musicians, workers, and many of the ordinary people had settled in the towns of Judah.