Nehemiah 1-2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Nehemiah Prays for His People
1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa,(A) 2 one of my brothers, Hanani, came with certain men from Judah, and I asked them about the Jews who escaped, those who had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. 3 They replied, “The remnant there in the province who escaped captivity are in great trouble and shame; the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been destroyed by fire.”(B)
4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.(C) 5 I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,(D) 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for your servants, the Israelites, confessing the sins of the Israelites, which we have sinned against you. Both I and my family have sinned.(E) 7 We have offended you deeply, failing to keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances that you commanded Moses your servant.(F) 8 Remember the word that you commanded Moses your servant, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples,(G) 9 but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are under the farthest skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place where I have chosen to establish my name.’(H) 10 They are your servants and your people whom you redeemed by your great power and your strong hand.(I) 11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man!”
At the time, I was cupbearer to the king.(J)
Nehemiah Sent to Judah
2 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was served him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence before.(K) 2 So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This can only be sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid.(L) 3 I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my ancestors’ graves, lies waste and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”(M) 4 Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.(N) 5 Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’ graves, so that I may rebuild it.” 6 The king said to me (the queen also was sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a date.(O) 7 Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may grant me passage until I arrive in Judah,(P) 8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, directing him to give me timber to make beams for the gates of the temple fortress and for the wall of the city and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the gracious hand of my God was upon me.(Q)
9 Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent officers of the army and cavalry with me.(R) 10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official[a] heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the Israelites.(S)
Nehemiah’s Inspection of the Walls
11 So I came to Jerusalem and was there for three days. 12 Then I got up during the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal I took was the animal I rode. 13 I went out by night by the Valley Gate past the Dragon’s Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.(T) 14 Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no place for the animal I was riding to continue.(U) 15 So I went up by way of the valley by night and inspected the wall. Then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate and so returned. 16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.
Decision to Restore the Walls
17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer suffer disgrace.”(V) 18 I told them that the hand of my God had been gracious upon me and also the words that the king had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let us start building!” So they committed themselves to the common good.(W) 19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official[b] and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they mocked and ridiculed us, saying, “What is this that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”(X) 20 Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven is the one who will give us success, and we his servants are going to start building, but you have no share or claim or memorial in Jerusalem.”(Y)
Nehemiah 4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Hostile Plots Thwarted
4 [a]Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he mocked the Jews.(A) 2 He said in the presence of his associates and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it by themselves?[b] Will they offer sacrifice? Will they finish it in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish—burned ones at that?”(B) 3 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “That stone wall they are building—any fox going up on it would break it down!”(C) 4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their taunt back on their own heads, and give them over as plunder in a land of captivity.(D) 5 Do not cover their guilt, and do not let their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have raged against the builders.[c](E)
6 So we rebuilt the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.
7 [d]But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and the gaps were beginning to be closed, they were very angry(F) 8 and all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. 9 So we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.(G)
10 But Judah said, “The strength of the burden bearers is failing, and there is too much rubbish so that we are unable to work on the wall.” 11 And our enemies said, “They will not know or see anything before we come upon them and kill them and stop the work.” 12 When the Jews who lived near them came, they said to us ten times, “From all the places where they live[e] they will come up against us.”[f] 13 So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people according to their families,[g] with their swords, their spears, and their bows.(H) 14 After I looked these things over, I stood up and said to the nobles and the officials and the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your kin, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your households.”(I)
15 When our enemies heard that their plot was known to us and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his work.(J) 16 From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and body-armor, and the leaders posted themselves behind the whole house of Judah 17 who were building the wall. The burden bearers carried their loads in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and with the other held a weapon. 18 And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. 19 And I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread out, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. 20 Rally to us wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet. Our God will fight for us.”(K)
21 So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from break of dawn until the stars came out. 22 I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night inside Jerusalem, so that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” 23 So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me ever took off our clothes; each kept his weapon in his right hand.[h]
Nehemiah 6
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Intrigues of Enemies Foiled
6 Now when it was reported to Sanballat and Tobiah and to Geshem the Arab and to the rest of our enemies that I had built the wall and that there was no gap left in it (though up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates),(A) 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together in one of the villages[a] in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm.(B) 3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it to come down to you?” 4 They sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner. 5 In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. 6 In it was written, “It is reported among the nations—and Geshem[b] also says it—that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall; and according to this report you wish to become their king.(C) 7 You have also set up prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem concerning you, ‘There is a king in Judah!’ And now it will be reported to the king according to these words. So come, therefore, and let us confer together.” 8 Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have been done; you are inventing them out of your own mind,” 9 for they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, strengthen my hands.
10 One day when I went into the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his house, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you; indeed, tonight they are coming to kill you.”(D) 11 But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Would a man like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in!” 12 Then I perceived and saw that God had not sent him at all, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.(E) 13 He was hired for this purpose, to intimidate me and make me sin by acting in this way, and so they could give me a bad name, in order to taunt me.(F) 14 Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.(G)
The Wall Completed
15 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid[c] and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.(H) 17 Moreover, in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them. 18 For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah. 19 Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.