In this first section of the chapter, some twenty work parties laboured side-by-side to repair the wall; fifteen times these parties are juxtaposed with the phrase next to him/them.
We need to imagine a portion of the wall being allocated to each team in turn so that the teams are working side by side to reconstruct the wall that the Babylonians had torn apart (2 Chronicles 36:19). The work would involve retrieving stones from under accumulated dirt and vegetation and relocating and securing them into a wall on the old foundations. Given the nature of stone walls, it is evident that no team could build straight up without overlapping the work of a neighbouring team; rather, of necessity there had to be cooperation. The teams mentioned in this chapter work counterclockwise to the previously mentioned team.
2 And next to him the men of Jericho built. And next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built.