What had brought Hanani back from Jerusalem we are not told; he may have wished once more to see his old father Hachaliah; but we can well imagine the joy with which he would be welcomed by all, and not the least by his brother Nehemiah.
As they walk together through Shushan to the palace, the Rab-shakeh asks anxiously after Jerusalem.

Has Ezra's work been successful?
How are matters progressing?
Are the people more in earnest?
Is Jerusalem thriving?
But the travellers have a dismal tale to tell.

Affairs in the Holy City are about as bad as it was possible for them to be.
Neh.i.

3: 'They said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.' In other words, things are just where they were twelve years ago; the people are miserable and depressed, beset with countless troubles; the city itself is still an utter ruin, just as Nebuchadnezzar left it.

The temple, it is true, is built at last, but nothing more is done; the walls lie just as they were when the city was taken,--a mass of ruins; the gates are nowhere to be seen, only a few blackened stones mark the place where they used to stand.
The Rab-shakeh's heart is very heavy as he goes to his rooms in the royal palace.