Nehemiah 1:1-2

International Standard Version

Introduction

1 In this document, I,^[a] Hacaliah’s son Nehemiah, recount^[b] what occurred during the twentieth year of Artaxerxes.^[c]

Background

In the month of Chislev,^[d] while I was in Shushan at the palace, ² Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived with some men from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had escaped, about those who had survived the Babylonian^[e] captivity, and about Jerusalem.