The territory of Jerusalem and Judah had been reduced to such an extent that all the returned exiles could travel to the city from their villages in three days. The borders of their territory were Bethel in the north, Beersheba in the south, Jericho in the east and Ono in the west. This was a distance of about 35 miles (56 kilometres) from north to south and 25 miles (40 kilometres) from east to west.1
8 and that if anyone did not come within three days, by order of the officials and the elders all his property should be forfeited, and he himself banned from the congregation of the exiles.