After him the priests worked, men of the nearby district.

the men of Anathoth, 128;

the men of the family of Azmaveth, 42;

the men of Micmash, 122;

the men of the other Nebo, 52;

Above the Horse Gate the priests worked, each in front of his house.

the men of Ramah and Geba, 621;

the men of Bethel and Ai, 123;

The people gave their blessing on all the men who volunteered to settle in Jerusalem.

The builders to a man had their swords strapped to their sides while they were building. But the trumpeter remained with me.

the men of Kiriath Jearim, Kephirah, and Beeroth, 743;

And the rest of the Israelites, with the priests and the Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, each on his own property.

So I purified them of everything foreign, and I assigned specific duties to the priests and the Levites.

I said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning, until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them. Position residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their guard stations and some near their homes.”

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.

Adjacent to them worked Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, who were men of Gibeon and Mizpah. These towns were under the jurisdiction of the governor of Trans-Euphrates.

At that time I instructed the people, “Let every man and his coworker spend the night in Jerusalem and let them be guards for us by night and workers by day.

We did not change clothes – not I, nor my relatives, nor my workers, nor the watchmen who were with me. Each had his weapon, even when getting a drink of water.

There were 150 Jews and officials who dined with me routinely, in addition to those who came to us from the nations all around us.

But I replied, “Should a man like me run away? Would someone like me flee to the temple in order to save his life? I will not go!”