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.

and come in doth Hanani, one of my brethren, he and men of Judah, and I ask them concerning the Jews, the escaped part that have been left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem;

That Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah; and in answer to my request for news of the Jews who had been prisoners and had got away, and of Jerusalem,

that Hanani, one of my brethren, came out of Judah, he and certain men; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, that were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

And Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived, he and some men of Judah. And I questioned them about the Jews who had remained and were left behind from the captivity, and about Jerusalem.

Hanani seems to have been an actual brother of Nehemiah Nehemiah 7:2.

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.

That Hanani, one of my (b) brethren, came, he and [certain] men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
(b) A Jew as I was.

That Hanani, one of my brethren,.... Either in natural relation, Nehemiah 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.

Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah--Hanani is called his brother (Nehemiah 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.