1. These are the words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah:It so happened that in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year, I was in Susa the citadel.
2. Hanani, who was one of my relatives, along with some of the men from Judah, came to me, and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped and had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem.
3. They said to me, “The remnant that remains from the exile there in the province are experiencing considerable adversity and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem lies breached, and its gates have been burned down!”