The World English Bible, Book 16: Nehemiah

The Book of Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible, largely takes the form of a first-person memoir concerning the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile by Nehemiah, a Jew who is a high official at the Persian court, and the dedication of the city and its people to God‘s laws (Torah). Since the 16th century, it has generally been treated as a separate book within the Bible. Before that date, it had been included in the Book of Ezra; but in Latin Christian Biblex from the 13th century onwards, the Vulgate Book of Ezra was divided into two texts, called respectively the First and Second books of Ezra; a separation which became canonised with the first printed bibles in Hebrew and Latin. Mid 16th century Reformed Protestant Bible translations produced in Geneva were the first to introduce the name ‘Book of Nehemiah‘ for the text formerly called the ‘Second Book of Ezra‘. The Book of Nehemiah is the sixteenth book.