Written after the nation's exile to Babylon, the books of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah show the faithfulness of God at work in the history of Israel through years of gradual decline and final, terrible fall. 1 and 2 Chronicles retells with special emphasis the story of King David's royal line, first set down in 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings. In Ezra and Nehemiah, the story encompasses the hope of restoration, as the exiles start to return and rebuild the broken city of Jerusalem. Running throughout these books is the message that what God seeks from his people is true worship and obedience, and that as they turn their hearts back to him, so he will bring them home.