the king and of his sons. Also I have made a decree, that whoever shall
make this command invalid, a beam shall be pulled out from his house, and
he shall be impaled upon it, and his house shall for this be made a refuse
heap. And the God who hath caused his name to dwell there shall overthrow
all kings and peoples who shall put forth their hand to make invalid the
command or to destroy the house of God at Jerusalem. Exactly will it be
executed.

[Sidenote: Ezra 6:13,14]
Then Tattenai, the governor of the province beyond the River, and
Shethar-bozenai, and their associates did exactly as Darius the king had
given command. And the elders of the Jews built and prospered. And they
finished the building according to the command of the God of Israel and
according to the decree of Cyrus and Darius.

I. The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are
the chief sources of information regarding Jewish history during the
Persian period. They fall into nine general divisions: (1) the return of
the Babylonian exiles and the revival of the Judean community, Ezra 1-4;

(2) the rebuilding of the temple, 5-6; (3) Ezra's expedition and the
priestly reformation, 8-10, and Nehemiah 8-10; (4) Nehemiah's work in
rebuilding the walls, Nehemiah 1:1-7:5; (5) census of the Judean
community, 7:6-69; (6) measures to secure the repopulation of Jerusalem,
11; (7) genealogy of the priests and Levites, 12:1-26; (8) dedication
of the walls, 12:27-43; and (9) Nehemiah's later reform measures,
12:44-13:31. It is evident that Ezra and Nehemiah were originally one
book, and that they come from the same author as I and II Chronicles.
This important fact is demonstrated by the presence of the same marked
characteristics of thought and literary style in both of these books. The