2. I instructed Hanani, my brother, and Hananiah, the leader of the house of Jerusalem, (for he seemed to be a truthful man, fearing God more than the others,)
3. and I said to them: "Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot." And while they were standing there, the gates were closed and barred. And I stationed guards from the inhabitants of Jerusalem, each one in his turn, and each one opposite his own house.
4. Now the city was great and very wide, and the people in its midst were few, and the houses were not yet built.
5. But God had given to my heart, and I gathered the nobles, and the magistrates, and the common people, so that I might enroll them. And I found a book of the census of those who first went up, and in it there was found written: