Now the city was spread out and large, and there were not a lot of people in it. At that time houses had not been rebuilt.

And we cast the lot among the priests, Levites and the people, for offering of the wood to be brought unto the house of our God from year to year, after the houses of our fathers that it might be burnt at times appointed, upon the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law:

The leaders of the people who lived in Jerusalem, along with the rest of the people, decided to choose one out of ten of them by lot to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, leaving the other nine of them in their towns.