1. After this, the heads of clans were chosen, tribe by tribe, to go to Jerusalem with their wives, children, slaves, and animals.
2. Darius sent a thousand cavalry troops to escort them safely back to Jerusalem.
3. He sent them off to the music of drums and flutes, while all their fellow-Israelites danced for joy.
4. These are the names, by tribes, clans, and families, of the men who returned:
5. Among the priests, descendants of Phinehas son of Aaron, was Joshua, son of Jozadak and grandson of Seraiah. He was accompanied by Zerubbabel, who was the son of Shealtiel of the family of David, of the line of Perez, of the tribe of Judah.
6. He was the one who had spoken the wise words before Darius, emperor of Persia. They left Babylon in the second year of his reign in Nisan, the first month.
7. These are the Jewish men who returned from exile. Their families had been living in Babylonia since King Nebuchadnezzar had taken them there as prisoners.
8. They returned to Jerusalem and the rest of Judah, each to his own home town. Their leaders were Zerubbabel, Joshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Resaiah, Eneneus, Mordecai, Beelsarus, Aspharasus, Reeliah, Rehum, and Baanah.