Son of Hacaliah, cupbearer to Artaxerxes I, and twice governor of the province of Judah. He hears in Susa that Jerusalem lies open and disgraced, prays for four months, asks the king for leave and letters, and rebuilds the wall in fifty-two days against organized opposition — inspecting it by night before telling anyone his plan, arming the builders, and refusing three invitations to a meeting on the plain of Ono. His book is the closest thing in the Bible to a senior official's memoir, written mostly in the first person, and four times it breaks off to say 'remember me, my God, for good.' The last chapter finds him back from a trip to court and furious at what has slid in his absence. Not a prophet, not a king, and the most practical administrator in Scripture.