Nehemiah’s Grief for the Exiles

1 The words of ^(A)Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.

Now it happened in ^(B)the month Chislev, ^(C)in the twentieth year, while I was in ^(D)Susa the ^[a]capitol, ² that ^(E)Hanani, one of my brothers, ^[b]and some men from Judah came; and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped ^[c]and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. ³ And they said to me, “The remnant there in the ^(F)province who survived the captivity are in great distress and ^(G)disgrace, and ^(H)the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and ^(I)its gates have been burned with fire.”

⁴ Now when I heard these words, ^(J)I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before ^(K)the God of heaven. ⁵ I said, “Please, Lord God of heaven, ^(L)the great and awesome God, ^(M)who keeps the covenant and faithfulness for those who love Him and keep His commandments: ^6 (N)let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open, to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, ^(O)confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have committed against You; ^(P)I and my father’s house have sinned. ^7 (Q)We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances ^(R)which You commanded Your servant Moses. ⁸ Remember, please, the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘^(S)If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples; ^9 (T)but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I ^(U)will gather them from there and bring them ^(V)to the place where I have chosen to have My name dwell.’ ^10 (W)They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. ¹¹ Please, Lord, ^(X)may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to ^[d]revere Your name, and please make Your servant successful today and grant him mercy before this man.”

Now I was the ^(Y)cupbearer to the king.

Nehemiah’s Prayer Answered

2 And it came about in the month Nisan, ^(Z)in the twentieth year of King ^(AA)Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and ^(AB)I picked up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. ² So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, though you are not ill? ^(AC)This is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid. ³ And I said to the king, “^(AD)May the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad ^(AE)when the city, the ^[e]site of my fathers’ tombs, is desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?” ⁴ Then the king said to me, “^[f]What would you request?” ^(AF)So I prayed to the God of heaven. ⁵ Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, I request that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” ⁶ Then the king said to me, with the queen sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and ^(AG)I gave him a definite time. ⁷ And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me ^(AH)for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, so that they will allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, ⁸ and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s ^(AI)forest, so that he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of ^(AJ)the citadel which is by the ^[g]temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house to which I will go.” And the king granted them to me because ^(AK)the good hand of my God was on me.

⁹ Then I came to ^(AL)the governors of the provinces beyond the Euphrates River and gave them the king’s letters. Now ^(AM)the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. ¹⁰ And when ^(AN)Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite ^[h]official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel.

Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem’s Walls

¹¹ So I ^(AO)came to Jerusalem and was there for three days. ¹² And I got up in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my ^[i]mind to do for Jerusalem, and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding. ¹³ So I went out at night by ^(AP)the Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon’s Spring and on to the Dung Gate, and I was inspecting the walls of Jerusalem ^(AQ)which were broken down and its ^(AR)gates which had been consumed by fire. ¹⁴ Then I passed on to ^(AS)the Fountain Gate and ^(AT)the King’s Pool, but there was no place for ^[j]my mount to pass. ¹⁵ So I was going up at night by the ^(AU)ravine and inspecting the wall. Then I entered the Valley Gate again and returned. ¹⁶ However, the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing; nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest who were doing the work.

¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation we are in, that ^(AV)Jerusalem is desolate and its gates have been burned by fire. Come, let’s rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a disgrace.” ¹⁸ And I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king’s words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let’s arise and build.” ^(AW)So they put their hands to the good work. ¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite ^[k]official, and ^(AX)Geshem the Arab heard about it, ^(AY)they mocked us and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? ^(AZ)Are you rebelling against the king?” ²⁰ So I answered them and said to them, “^(BA)The God of heaven will make us successful; therefore we His servants will arise and build, ^(BB)but you have no part, right, or memorial in Jerusalem.”

Builders of the Walls

3 Then ^(BC)Eliashib the high priest arose with his brothers the priests and built ^(BD)the Sheep Gate; they consecrated it and ^(BE)installed its doors. They consecrated ^[l]the wall to ^(BF)the Tower of the Hundred and ^(BG)the Tower of Hananel. ² And next to him ^(BH)the men of Jericho built, and next to ^[m]them Zaccur the son of Imri built.

³ Now the sons of Hassenaah built ^(BI)the Fish Gate; they laid its beams and installed its doors with its bolts and bars. ⁴ Next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz made repairs. And next to ^[n]him Meshullam the son of Berechiah the son of Meshezabel made repairs. And next to ^[o]him Zadok the son of Baana also made repairs. ⁵ Moreover, next to ^[p]him the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles did not ^[q]support the work of their masters.

⁶ Now Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired ^(BJ)the Ancient Gate; they laid its beams and installed its doors with its bolts and its bars. ⁷ Next to them Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, ^[r]also made repairs for the official seat of the ^(BK)governor of the province beyond the Euphrates River. ⁸ Next to him Uzziel the son of Harhaiah of the ^(BL)goldsmiths made repairs. And next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs, and they restored Jerusalem as far as ^(BM)the Broad Wall. ⁹ And next to them Rephaiah the son of Hur, ^(BN)the official of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs. ¹⁰ Next to them Jedaiah the son of Harumaph made repairs opposite his house. And next to him Hattush the son of Hashabneiah made repairs. ¹¹ Malchijah the son of Harim and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab repaired another section and ^(BO)the Tower of Furnaces. ¹² Next to him Shallum the son of Hallohesh, ^(BP)the official of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs, he and his daughters.

¹³ Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired ^(BQ)the Valley Gate. They built it and installed its doors with its bolts and its bars, and a ^[s]thousand cubits of the wall to the Dung Gate.

¹⁴ And Malchijah the son of Rechab, the official of the district of ^(BR)Beth-haccherem repaired the ^(BS)Dung Gate. He built it and installed its doors with its bolts and its bars.

Teaching on Marriage

7 Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is ^(A)good for a man ^[a]not to touch a woman. ² But because of sexual immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. ³ The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise the wife also to her husband. ⁴ The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise the husband also does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. ^5 [b](B)Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and ^[c]come together again so that ^(C)Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ⁶ But this I say by way of concession, ^(D)not of command. ^7 [d]Yet I wish that all ^[e]men were ^(E)even as I myself am. However, ^(F)each has his own gift from God, one in this way, and another in that.

⁸ But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is ^(G)good for them if they remain ^(H)even as I. ⁹ But if they do not have self-control, ^(I)let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

¹⁰ But to the married I give instructions, ^(J)not I, but the Lord, that the wife is not to leave her husband ¹¹ (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband is not to ^[f]divorce his wife.

¹² But to the rest ^(K)I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she consents to live with him, he must not ^[g]divorce her. ¹³ And ^[h]if any woman has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not ^[i]divorce her husband. ¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through ^[j]her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are ^(L)holy. ¹⁵ Yet if the unbelieving one is leaving, ^[k]let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called ^[l]us ^(M)in peace. ¹⁶ For how do you know, wife, whether you will ^(N)save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

¹⁷ Only, ^(O)as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this way let him walk. And ^(P)so I direct in ^(Q)all the churches. ¹⁸ Was any man called when he was already circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? ^(R)He is not to be circumcised. ^19 (S)Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is ^(T)the keeping of the commandments of God. ^20 (U)Each person is to remain in that ^[m]state in which he was called.

²¹ Were you called as a slave? Do not let it concern you. But if you are also able to become free, take advantage of that. ²² For the one who was called in the Lord as a slave, is ^(V)the Lord’s freed person; likewise the one who was called as free, is ^(W)Christ’s slave. ^23 (X)You were bought for a price; do not become slaves of people. ²⁴ Brothers and sisters, ^(Y)each one is to remain with God in that condition in which he was called.