And I rode by night unto the valley port before the Dragon well, and to the Dung port, and considered the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down, and the ports thereof consumed with the fire.

Then went I on in the night by the brook side, and considered the wall, and turned back and came home again to the valley port.

I considered these things carefully and then registered a complaint with the wealthy and the officials. I said to them, "Each one of you is seizing the collateral from your own countrymen!" Because of them I called for a great public assembly.

These searched among their ancestral registration, but it could not be located; therefore they were considered unclean and excluded from the priesthood.

and hast considered the misery of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their complaint by the reed sea,

In charge of the storehouses I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and in addition to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were considered reliable, and it was their task to distribute to their kinsmen.