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.

Nehemiah’s Prayer Answered

2 And it came about in the month Nisan, ^(A)in the twentieth year of King ^(B)Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and ^(C)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? ^(D)This is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid. ³ And I said to the king, “^(E)May the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad ^(F)when the city, the ^[a]site of my fathers’ tombs, is desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?” ⁴ Then the king said to me, “^[b]What would you request?” ^(G)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 ^(H)I gave him a definite time. ⁷ And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me ^(I)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 ^(J)forest, so that he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of ^(K)the citadel which is by the ^[c]temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house to which I will go.” And the king granted them to me because ^(L)the good hand of my God was on me.

¹² For just ^(A)as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though they are many, are one body, ^(B)so also is Christ. ¹³ For ^[a](C)by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether ^(D)Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to ^(E)drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴ For ^(F)the body is not one part, but many. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason ^[b]any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason ^[c]any less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But now God has ^(G)arranged the parts, each one of them in the body, ^(H)just as He desired.

²⁷ Now you are ^(A)Christ’s body, and ^(B)individually parts of it. ²⁸ And God has ^[a](C)appointed in ^(D)the church, first ^(E)apostles, second ^(F)prophets, third ^(G)teachers, then ^[b](H)miracles, then ^(I)gifts of healings, helps, ^(J)administrations, and various ^(K)kinds of tongues. ²⁹ All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of ^[c]miracles, are they? ³⁰ All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not ^(L)interpret, do they? ³¹ But ^(M)earnestly desire the greater gifts.

And yet, I am going to show you a far better way.