The Book of Ezra in the Hebrew Bible describes how he led a group of Judean exiles living in Babylon to their home city of Jerusalem. 55 “All this I have spoken before you, O Lord, because you have said that it was for us that you created this world. 56 As for the other nations that have descended from Adam, you have said that they are nothing, and that they are like spittle, and you have compared their abundance to a drop from a bucket. 57 And now, O Lord, these nations, which are reputed to be as nothing, domineer over us and devour us. 58 But we your people, whom you have called your firstborn, only begotten, zealous for you,p and most dear, have been given into their hands. 59 If the world has indeed been created for us, why do we not possess our world as an inheritance? How long will this be so?”