From the early Church Fathers to now.
1 Jewish · 2 Reformed · 1 Methodist · 1 Catholic
“That Hanani one of my brethren came, he and some men of Juda; and I asked them concerning the Jews, that remained and were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.”
“one of my brethren one of my companions. and I asked them about the Jews I asked them about the Jews who had escaped the Babylonian captivity and remained in Jerusalem. who had escaped because they were saved from the Babylonian exile. and about Jerusalem And I asked them about the city.”
“That Hanani, one of my brethren,.... Either in natural relation, Neh 7:2, or being a Jew of the same nation and religion; so Jarchi interprets it, one of my companions or acquaintance: he and certain men of Judah; who came from thence to Shushan on some account or another: and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity; who were returned from it to their own land; he inquired of their health and prosperity, in what circumstances they were, whether prosperous or adverse, whether they flourished, or were in distress: and concerning Jerusalem; whether it was rebuilt, the houses and walls of it, and in what condition it was.”
“I asked them concerning the Jews - Josephus gives a probable account of this business: "Nehemiah, being somewhere out of Susa, seeing some strangers, and hearing them converse in the Hebrew tongue, he went near; and finding they were Jews from Jerusalem, he asked them how matters went with their brethren in that city, and what was their state?" And the answer they gave him is, in substance, that recorded in the text; though with several aggravations in Josephus. - Joseph. Ant. lib. xi., c. 5.”
“Hanani, a relation, whom Nehemias brought back, chap. vii. 2. — Came. Some Latin copies add, “to me,” (Lyranus) as if a deputation had been sent; but of this the text is silent. (Calmet)”
“Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah--Hanani is called his brother (Neh 7:2). But as that term was used loosely by Jews as well as other Orientals, it is probable that no more is meant than that he was of the same family. According to JOSEPHUS, Nehemiah, while walking around the palace walls, overheard some persons conversing in the Hebrew language. Having ascertained that they had lately returned from Judea, he was informed by them, in answer to his eager enquiries, of the unfinished and desolate condition of Jerusalem, as well as the defenseless state of the returned exiles. The commissions previously given to Zerubbabel and Ezra extending only to the repair of the temple and private dwellings, the walls and gates of the city had been allowed to remain a mass of shattered ruins, as they had been laid by the Chaldean siege.”
The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.