Nehemiah Intercedes for Jerusalem

1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah:

Now it happened that in the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in Shushan the capitol, ² that Hanani, one of my brothers, together with some men from Judah, arrived and I asked them about the Judeans, the remnant who had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem.

³ They said to me, “The remnant who have survived the captivity there in the province are in great distress and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been burned with fire.”

⁴ Upon hearing these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days. I prayed and fasted before the God of heaven. ⁵ Then I said:

“Adonai, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps the covenant and lovingkindness with those who love Him and keep His mitzvot, ⁶ please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant that I am praying before You today both day and night on behalf of Your servants, the Bnei-Yisrael. I am confessing the sins of Bnei-Yisrael that we have sinned against You—yes, I and my ancestral house have sinned. ⁷ We have acted very corruptly against You. We have not kept the mitzvot, the statutes, nor the rulings that You commanded Your servant Moses.

⁸ “Please recall the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the peoples, ⁹ but if you return to Me and obey My mitzvot, and do them, then even if your dispersed people are at the ends of the heavens, I will gather them from there, and bring them back to the place where I have chosen for My Name to dwell.’

¹⁰ “They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great strength and by Your mighty hand. ¹¹ Please, my 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 Your servant success today and grant compassion in the presence of this man.”

Now I was cupbearer to the king.

Favor with the King

2 Then in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before. ² So the king said to me, “Why is your face so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”

I was very frightened, ³ but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

⁴ The king asked me, “What is your request?”

Then I prayed to the God of heaven, ⁵ and I answered the king, “If it seems good to the king and if your servant has found favor in your sight, send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried that I may rebuild it.”

⁶ Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” Since it pleased the king to send me, I set a time for him.

⁷ I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let him give me letters for the governors of Trans-Euphrates that will enable me to pass through until I arrive in Judah, ⁸ as well as a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest so he will give me lumber to make beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the Temple, for the wall of the city and for the residence I will occupy.”

The king granted me the requests because the good hand of my God was upon me.

⁹ Then I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and I gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officials and cavalry with me.

¹⁰ When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite officials heard all this, they were very displeased that a man had come to seek the welfare of Bnei-Yisrael.

Inspecting the Walls

¹¹ I came to Jerusalem, and after I was there for three days, ¹² I got up during the night along with a few men. But I did not tell anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no animals with me except the animal I was riding. ¹³ By night I went out by the Valley Gate toward Jackal Spring and the Dung Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. ¹⁴ Then I moved on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, where there was not enough room for my animal to pass with me; ¹⁵ so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and returned to the Valley Gate. ¹⁶ The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, but as yet I had not told the Jews, the kohanim, the nobles, the officials or the rest of the workers.

¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation we are in: Jerusalem is desolate and its gates have been burnt. Come! Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a disgrace.”

¹⁸ Then I told them how the good hand of my God was on me and the words that the king had said to me. Then they replied, “Let us begin building!” So they prepared themselves for this good work.

¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. They said, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

²⁰ I responded to them saying, “The God of heaven will bring us success. We His servants will arise and build. But you have no part, right, or historical claim in Jerusalem.”

The Builders of the Wall

3 Then Eliashib the kohen gadol and his brothers, the kohanim, arose and built the Sheep Gate. They dedicated it and set up its doors, dedicating it as far as the Tower of the Hundred and as far as the Tower of Hananel. ² The men of Jericho built next to it and Zaccur the son of Imri built next to them.

³ The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate. They laid its beams and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. ⁴ Next to them Meremoth son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz made repairs. Adjacent to them Meshullam son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel made repairs, and next to them Zadok son of Baana made repairs. ⁵ The men of Tekoa made repairs next to them, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work of their masters.

⁶ Joiada son of Paseah, and Meshullam son of Besodeiah repaired the Old Gate. They laid its beams and set up its doors, its bolts and its bars. ⁷ Adjacent to them worked Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, men from Gibeon and Mizpah who are under the jurisdiction of the governor of Trans-Euphrates. ⁸ Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, worked adjacent to him, and Hananiah, one of the perfumers, worked next to him. They restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. ⁹ Rephaiah son of Hur, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem made repairs next to them. ¹⁰ Jedaiah son of Harumaph repaired the section adjacent to them opposite his house, and Hattush son of Hashabneiah worked next to them. ¹¹ Malchijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Furnaces. ¹² Shallum son of Hallohesh, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, and his daughters repaired the next section.

¹³ Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate. They built it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. They also repaired a thousand cubits of wall up to the Dung Gate.

¹⁴ Malchijah son of Rechab, the ruler of the district of Beth-cherem, repaired the Dung Gate. He built it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

Counsel About Marriage

7 Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. ² But because of much immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. ³ Let the husband fulfill his obligation to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. ⁴ The wife does not have the rights to her own body, but the husband. Likewise also the husband does not have the rights to his own body, but the wife. ⁵ Do not deprive one another—except by mutual consent for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer.^[a] Then come together again, so that satan doesn’t tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ⁶ But this I say as a concession, not as a command. ⁷ Yet I wish that all men were like me. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this way and another that.

⁸ But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them to remain as I am. ⁹ But if they do not have self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with desire.

¹⁰ But to the married I command—not I, but the Lord^[b]—a wife is not to be separated from her husband ¹¹ (but if she gets separated, let her remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband is not to divorce his wife.

¹² But to the rest I say—I, not the Lord—if any brother has a wife who is not a believer, and she agrees to live with him, he must not divorce her. ¹³ And if any woman has a husband who is not a believer, and he agrees to live with her, she must not divorce him. ¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is made holy through the wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through her husband.^[c] Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. ¹⁵ But if the unbeliever separates, let him be separated. The brother or the sister is not bound in such cases, but God has called you to shalom. ¹⁶ For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

Remain As You Were Called

¹⁷ Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, let him walk in this way. I give this rule in all of Messiah’s communities. ¹⁸ Was anyone called when he already had been circumcised? Let him not make himself uncircumcised. Has anyone been called while uncircumcised? Let him not allow himself to be circumcised. ¹⁹ Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing^[d]—but keeping God’s commandments matters. ²⁰ Let each one remain in the calling in which he was called. ²¹ Were you called as a slave? Don’t let that bother you—but if indeed you can become free, make the most of the opportunity. ²² For the one who was called in the Lord as a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise the one who was called while free is Messiah’s slave. ²³ You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. ²⁴ Brothers and sisters, let each one—in whatever way he was called—remain that way with God.