2 when my brother Hanani came with some men from Judah. So I asked them about the Jews who had escaped [4] from being captives in Babylonia. I also asked them about the city of Jerusalem.

3 They told me, “Those captives who have come back are having all kinds of troubles. They are terribly disgraced, Jerusalem’s walls are broken down, and its gates have been burned.”

4 When I heard this, I sat down and cried. Then for several days, I mourned; I went without eating to show my sorrow, and I prayed: