Nehemiah’s Prayer

1 These are the words of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was the son of Hacaliah: I, Nehemiah, was in the capital city of Susa in the month of Kislev. This was in the 20th year* {that Artaxerxes was king}. ²While I was in Susa, one of my brothers named Hanani and some other men came from Judah. I asked them about the Jews living there. These were the Jews that had escaped captivity and still lived in Judah. And I also asked them about the city of Jerusalem. ³Hanani and the men with him said, “Nehemiah, those Jews that escaped captivity and are in the land of Judah are in much trouble. Those people are having many problems and are full of shame. Why? Because the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” ⁴When I heard those things about the people of Jerusalem and about the wall, I was very upset. I sat down and cried. I was very sad. I fasted* and prayed to the God of Heaven for several days. ⁵Then I prayed this prayer: Lord, God of Heaven, you are the great and powerful God. You are the God who keeps his agreement of love with people that love you and obey your commands. ⁶Please open your eyes and ears and listen to the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night. I am praying for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we people of Israel have done against you. I am confessing that I have sinned against you and that the other people in my father’s family have sinned against you. ⁷We people of Israel have been very bad to you. We have not obeyed the commands, teachings, and laws you gave your servant Moses. ⁸Please remember the teaching you gave your servant Moses. You said to him, “If you people of Israel are not faithful, I will force you to be scattered among the other nations. ⁹But if you people of Israel come back to me and obey my commands, then this is what I will do: Even if your people have been forced to leave their homes and go to the ends of the earth, I will gather them from there. And I will bring them back to the place I have chosen to put my name.” ¹⁰The people of Israel are your servants and your people. You used your great power and rescued those people. ¹¹So Lord, please listen to my prayer. I am your servant. And please listen to the prayers of your servants that want to show respect for your name. Lord, you know I am the king’s wine servant.* So please help me today. Help me as I ask the king for help. Give me success and help me to be pleasing to the king.

Kislev ... 20th year This was about December, 444 B.C. fast(ed) To live without food for a special time of prayer and worship to God. wine servant A very important job. This official was always close to the king and tasted the king’s wine to make sure no one was trying to poison the king.

The King Sends Nehemiah to Jerusalem

2 In the month of Nisan in the 20th year* {of King Artaxerxes}, some wine was brought to the king. I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad when I was with the king, but now I was sad. ²So the king asked me, “Are you sick? Why do you look sad? I think your heart is full of sadness.” Then I was very much afraid. ³But even though I was afraid, I said to the king, “May the king live forever! I am sad because the city where my ancestors* are buried lies in ruins. And the gates of that city have been destroyed by fire.” ⁴Then the king said to me, “What do you want me to do?” Before I answered, I prayed to the God of Heaven. ⁵Then I answered the king, “If it would please the king, and if I have been good to you, please send me to {Jerusalem,} the city in Judah where my ancestors* are buried. I want to go there and build that city again.” ⁶The queen was sitting next to the king. The king and queen asked me, “How long will your trip take? When will you get back here?” The king was happy to send me, so I gave him a certain time. ⁷I also said to the king, “If it would please the king to do something else for me, let me ask. Please give me some letters to show the governors of the area west of the Euphrates River. I need these letters so those governors will give me permission to pass safely through their lands on my way to Judah. ⁸I also need lumber for the heavy wooden beams for the gates, the walls, the walls around the temple,* and my house. So I need a letter from you to Asaph. Asaph is in charge of your forests.” The king gave me the letters and everything I asked for. The king did that because God was kind to me. ⁹So I went to the governors of the area west of the Euphrates River. I gave those governors the letters from the king. The king had also sent army officers and soldiers on horses with me. ¹⁰Sanballat and Tobiah were two men that heard about what I was doing. They were very upset and angry that someone had come to help the people of Israel. Sanballat was from Horon and Tobiah is an Ammonite official.

Nehemiah Inspects Walls of Jerusalem

^11–12I went to Jerusalem and stayed there three days. Then at night I started out with a few men. I had not said anything to anyone about what God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no horses with me except the horse I was riding. ¹³While it was dark I went out through the Valley Gate. I rode toward the Dragon Well and the Gate of the Ash Piles. I was inspecting the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down. And the gates in the wall that had been burned with fire. ¹⁴Then I rode on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool. But as I got close, I could see there was not enough room for my horse to get through. ¹⁵So I went up the valley in the dark, inspecting the wall. Finally, I turned back and went back in through the Valley Gate. ¹⁶The officials and important people of Israel didn’t know where I had gone. They didn’t know what I was doing. I had not yet said anything to the Jews, the priests, the king’s family, the officials, or any of the other people that would be doing the work. ¹⁷Then I said to all those people, “You can see the trouble we have here: Jerusalem is a pile of ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let’s build the wall of Jerusalem again. Then we won’t be ashamed any more.” ¹⁸I also told those people that God had been kind to me. I told them the things the king had said to me. Then those people answered, “Let’s start to work, now!” So we began this good work. ¹⁹But Sanballat from Horon, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard that we were building again. They made fun of us in a very ugly way. They said, “What are you doing? Are you turning against the king?” ²⁰But this is what I said to those men: “The God of Heaven will help us succeed. We are God’s servants and we will build this city again. And you can’t help us in this work. None of your family lived here in Jerusalem. You don’t own any of this land. You have no right to be in this place!”

Nisan ... 20th year This was March-April, 443 B.C. ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents, grandparents, and all the people they are descended from. temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship.

Builders of the Wall

3 The name of the high priest was Eliashib. Eliashib and his brothers the priests went to work and built the Sheep Gate. They prayed and made that gate holy to the Lord. They set its doors in place in the wall. Those priests worked on the wall of Jerusalem as far as the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel. They prayed and made their work holy to the Lord. ²The men from Jericho built the wall next to the priests. And Zaccur son of a man named Imri built the wall next to the men of Jericho. ³The sons of a man named Hassenaah built the Fish Gate. They set the beams in place. They put doors on the building. Then they put the locks and bolts on the doors. ⁴Meremoth son of Uriah fixed the next section of the wall. (Uriah was the son of Hakkoz.) Meshullam son of Berekiah fixed the next section of the wall. (Berekiah was the son of Meshezabel.) Zadok son of Baana fixed the next section of the wall. ⁵The men from Tekoa fixed the next section of the wall. But the leaders from Tekoa refused to work for {Nehemiah} their governor. ⁶Joiada and Meshullam fixed the Old Gate. Joiada is the son of Paseah and Meshullam is the son of Besodeiah. They set the beams in place. They put the doors on the hinges. Then they put the locks and bolts on the doors. ⁷The men from Gibeon and Mizpah fixed the next section of the wall. A man named Melatiah from Gibeon and a man named Jadon from Meronoth did the work. Gibeon and Meronoth are places that are controlled by the governors of the area west of the Euphrates River. ⁸Uzziel son of Harhaiah fixed the next section of the wall. Uzziel was a goldsmith.* Hananiah was one of the perfume makers. Those men built and fixed Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. ⁹Rephaiah son of Hur fixed the next section of the wall. Rephaiah was the governor of half of Jerusalem. ¹⁰Jedaiah son of Harumaph fixed the next section of the wall. Jedaiah fixed the wall next to his own house. Hattush son of Hashabneiah fixed the next section. ¹¹Malkijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-Moab fixed the next section. Those men also fixed Oven Tower. ¹²Shallum son of Hallohesh fixed the next section of the wall. His daughters helped him. Shallum was the governor of the other half of Jerusalem. ¹³The Valley Gate was fixed by a man named Hanun and the people that live in the town of Zanoah. Those people built the Valley Gate. They put the doors on their hinges. Then they put the locks and bolts on the doors. They also fixed 500 yards* of the wall. They worked on the wall all the way to the Gate of Ash Piles. ¹⁴Malkijah son of Recab fixed the Gate of Ash Piles. Malkijah was the governor of the district of Beth Hakkerem. He fixed that gate. He put the doors on the hinges. Then he put the locks and bolts on the doors. ¹⁵Shallun son of Col-Hozeh fixed the Fountain Gate. Shallun was the governor of the district of Mizpah. He fixed that gate and put a roof over it. He put the doors on the hinges. Then he put the locks and bolts on the doors. Shallun also fixed the wall of the Pool of Siloam that is next to the King’s Garden. He fixed the wall all the way to the steps that go down from the City of David.* ¹⁶Nehemiah son of Azbuk fixed the next section. This Nehemiah was the governor of half the district of Beth Zur. He made repairs up to a place that is across from the tombs of David. And he worked as far as the man-made pool and the House of Heroes. ¹⁷The men from the family group of Levi fixed the next section. Those men from Levi worked under Rehum son of Bani. Hashabiah fixed the next section. Hashabiah was governor of half the district of Keilah. He made repairs for his own district. ¹⁸Their brothers fixed the next section. They worked under Binnui son of Henadad. Binnui was the governor of the other half of the district of Keilah. ¹⁹Ezer son of Jeshua fixed the next section. Ezer was governor of Mizpah. He fixed the section of wall from the room for weapons to the corner of the wall. ²⁰Baruch son of Zabbai fixed the next section. Baruch worked very hard and fixed the section of wall from the corner to the entrance to the house of Eliashib the high priest. ²¹Meremoth son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, fixed the next section of wall from the entrance to Eliashib’s house to the end of that house. ²²The next section of walls was fixed by the priests that lived in that area.* ²³Benjamin and Hasshub fixed the wall in front of their own house. And Azariah son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, fixed the wall next to his house. ²⁴Binnui son of Henadad fixed the section of wall from Azariah’s house to the bend in the wall and then to the corner. ²⁵Palal son of Uzai worked across from the bend in the wall near the tower. This is the tower at the king’s upper house. That is near the courtyard of the king’s guard. Pedaiah son of Parosh worked next to Palal. ²⁶The temple servants lived on Ophel Hill. They fixed the next section all the way to the east side of the Water Gate and the tower near it. ²⁷The men from Tekoa fixed the rest of that section from the big tower all the way to the Ophel wall. ²⁸The priests fixed the section over the Horse Gate. Each priest fixed the wall in front of his own house. ²⁹Zadok son of Immer fixed the section in front of his house. Shemaiah son of Shecaniah fixed the next section. Shemaiah was the guard of the East Gate. ³⁰Hananiah son of Shelemiah and Hanun son of Zalaph fixed the rest of that section of wall. (Hanun was Zalaph’s sixth son.) Meshullam son of Berekiah fixed the section in front of his house. ³¹Malkijah fixed the next section of wall all the way to the houses of the temple servants and the businessmen. That is across from the Inspection Gate. Malkijah fixed the section all the way to the room over the corner of the wall. Malkijah was a goldsmith.* ³²The goldsmiths and the businessmen fixed the section of wall between the room over the corner to the Sheep Gate.

goldsmith A person that makes things from gold. 500 yards Literally, “1,000 cubits.” City of David The southeast and oldest part of the city of Jerusalem. that area Or possibly, “the Jordan Valley.”