נחמיה, פרק ו׳, פסוק ט״ו

The massive project of restoring Jerusalem's broken defenses finally reaches its successful conclusion on a precise date and after a specific duration. Ultimately, the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This milestone took place during the twentieth year of King Darius's reign. Remarkably, this was the exact same year that Nehemiah first traveled from Shushan in Babylon with the specific mission to rebuild the ruins of Jerusalem [רש"י, מלבי"ם].

The project was completed over a span of fifty-two days. The primary approach among commentators is that this number represents the total amount of time required for the physical labor. According to this view, the construction was finished exactly fifty-two days after the initial building and restoration efforts began. However, a different perspective suggests that this fifty-two day period does not measure the actual construction time. Instead, the count begins specifically from the day that Sanballat sent his letter [אבן עזרא].