Chronological

1 The words or story of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: Now in the month of Chislev in the twentieth year [of the Persian king], as I was in the castle of Shushan,

² Hanani, one of my kinsmen, came with certain men from Judah, and I asked them about the surviving Jews who had escaped exile, and about Jerusalem.

³ And they said to me, The remnant there in the province who escaped exile are in great trouble and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its [fortified] gates are destroyed by fire.

⁴ When I heard this, I sat down and wept and mourned for days and fasted and prayed [constantly] before the God of heaven,

⁵ And I said, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, Who keeps covenant, loving-kindness, and mercy for those who love Him and keep His commandments,

⁶ Let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to listen to the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You day and night for the Israelites, Your servants, confessing the sins of the Israelites which we have sinned against You. Yes, I and my father’s house have sinned.

⁷ We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, statutes, and ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.^(A)

⁸ Remember [earnestly] what You commanded Your servant Moses: If you transgress and are unfaithful, I will scatter you abroad among the nations;^(B)

⁹ But if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the farthest part of the heavens [the expanse of outer space], yet will I gather them from there and will bring them to the place in which I have chosen to set My ^[a]Name.^(C)

¹⁰ Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand.

¹¹ O Lord, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere and fear Your name (Your nature and attributes); and prosper, I pray You, Your servant this day and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was cupbearer to the king.

2 In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before in his presence.

² So the king said to me, Why do you look sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was very much afraid

³ And said to the king, Let the king live forever! Why should I not be sad faced when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchers, lies waste, and its [fortified] gates are consumed by fire?

⁴ The king said to me, For what do you ask? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

⁵ And I said to [him], If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you will send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ sepulchers, that I may rebuild it.

⁶ The king, beside whom the queen was sitting, asked me, How long will your journey take, and when will you return? So it pleased [him] to send me; and I set him a time.

⁷ Also I said to the king, If it pleases the king, let letters be given me for the governors beyond the [Euphrates] River, that they may let me pass through to Judah,

⁸ And a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest or park, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple and for the city wall and for the house that I shall occupy. And the king granted what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.

⁹ Then I came to the governors beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.

¹⁰ When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard this, it distressed them exceedingly that a man had come to inquire for and require the good and prosperity of the Israelites.

¹¹ So I came to Jerusalem and had been there three days.

¹² Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. No beast was with me except the one I rode.

¹³ I went out by night by the Valley Gate toward the Dragon’s Well and to the Dung Gate and inspected the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire.

¹⁴ I passed over to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.

¹⁵ So [gradually] I went up by the brook [Kidron] in the night and inspected the wall; then I turned back and entered [the city] by the Valley Gate, and so returned.

¹⁶ And the magistrates knew not where I went or what I did; nor had I yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest who did the work.

¹⁷ Then I said to them, You see the bad situation we are in—how Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates are burned with fire. Come, let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a disgrace.

¹⁸ Then I told them of the hand of my God which was upon me for good, and also the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, Let us rise up and build! So they strengthened their hands for the good work.

¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed us to scorn and despised us and said, What is this thing you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?

²⁰ I answered them, The God of heaven will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or memorial in Jerusalem.

3 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests and built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set up its doors; they consecrated it even to the Tower of Hammeah or the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel.

² And next to him [Eliashib] the men of Jericho built. Next to [them] Zaccur son of Imri built.

³ And the Fish Gate the sons of Hassenaah built; they laid its beams and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

⁴ And next to them Meremoth son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired. Next to them Meshullam son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabel, repaired. Next to them Zadok son of Baana repaired.

⁵ Next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles or lords did not put their necks to the work of their Lord.

⁶ Moreover, the Old Gate Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah repaired. They laid its beams and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

⁷ Next to them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, [up] to the seat or residence of the governor [west of] the River [Euphrates, there in Jerusalem].

⁸ Next to them repaired Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths. Next to him repaired Hananiah, one of the perfumers, and they abandoned [fortification of] Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall [omitting that part of the ancient city and reducing the area].

⁹ Next to them repaired Rephaiah son of Hur, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem.

¹⁰ Next to them repaired Jedaiah son of Harumaph, opposite his own house. And next to him repaired Hattush son of Hashabneiah.

¹¹ Malchijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-moab repaired another portion and the Tower of the Furnaces.

¹² Next to [them] repaired Shallum son of Hallohesh, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, he and his daughters.

¹³ The Valley Gate [the main entrance in the west wall, the Jaffa Gate] was repaired by Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah. They built it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall, as far as the Dung Gate.

¹⁴ The Dung Gate was repaired by Malchijah son of Rechab, the ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem. He rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

¹⁵ The Fountain Gate was repaired by Shallum son of Col-hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah. He rebuilt and covered it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and the wall of the Pool of Shelah (Siloam), by the King’s Garden, as far as the stairs that go down [the eastern slope] from the [portion of Jerusalem known as] the City of David.

¹⁶ After him Nehemiah [III] son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of Beth-zur, repaired [the wall] to a point opposite the sepulchers of David, and to the artificial pool and the house of the guards.

¹⁷ After him the Levites: Rehum son of Bani. Next to him repaired Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah.

¹⁸ After him repaired their brethren under Bavvai son of Henadad, ruler of [the other] half of the district of Keilah.

¹⁹ Next to him repaired Ezer son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, another district over opposite the ascent to the armory at the angle [in the wall].

²⁰ After him Baruch son of Zabbai (Zaccai) earnestly repaired another portion [toward the hill] from the angular turning of the wall to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.

²¹ After him Meremoth son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired from the door of Eliashib’s house to the end of his house.

²² After him the priests, men of the plain, repaired.

²³ After them Benjamin and Hasshub repaired opposite their house. After them repaired Azariah son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah beside his own house.

²⁴ After him Binnui son of Henadad repaired another section [of the wall], from the house of Azariah to the angular turn of the wall and to the corner.

²⁵ Palal son of Uzai repaired opposite the angular turn of the wall and the tower which stands out from the upper house of the king by the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah son of Parosh

²⁶ And the servants of the priests dwelling on Ophel [the hill south of the temple] repaired to opposite the Water Gate on the east and the projecting tower.

²⁷ After them the Tekoites repaired another portion opposite the great projecting tower to the wall of Ophel.

²⁸ Above the Horse Gate the priests repaired, everyone opposite his own house.

²⁹ After them repaired Zadok son of Immer opposite his house. Then Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, keeper of the East Gate, repaired.

³⁰ After him Hananiah son of Shelemiah, and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired another section. After him Meshullam son of Berechiah repaired opposite his chamber.

³¹ After him Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants, opposite the Muster Gate, and to the ascent and upper room of the corner.

³² And from the ascent and upper room of the corner to the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and merchants repaired.

4 But when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and in a great rage, and he ridiculed the Jews.

² And he said before his brethren and the army of Samaria, What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore things [at will and by themselves]? Will they [try to bribe their God] with sacrifices? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, seeing they are burned?

³ Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him, and he said, What they build—if a fox climbs upon it, he will break down their stone wall.

⁴ [And Nehemiah prayed] Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their taunts upon their own heads, and give them for a prey in a land of their captivity.

⁵ Cover not their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have vexed [with alarm] the builders and provoked You.

⁶ So we built the wall, and all [of it] was joined together to half its height, for the people had a heart and mind to work.

⁷ But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabians, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were going up and that the breaches were being closed, they were very angry.

⁸ And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem, to injure and cause confusion and failure in it.

⁹ But because of them we made our prayer to our God and set a watch against them day and night.

¹⁰ And [the leaders of] Judah said, The strength of the burden bearers is weakening, and there is much rubbish; we are not able to work on the wall.

¹¹ And our enemies said, They will not know or see till we come into their midst and kill them and stop the work.

¹² And when the Jews who lived near them came, they said to us ten times, You must return [to guard our little villages]; from all places where they dwell they will be upon us.

¹³ So I set [armed men] behind the wall in places where it was least protected; I even thus used the people as families with their swords, spears, and bows.

¹⁴ I looked [them over] and rose up and said to the nobles and officials and the other people, Do not be afraid of the enemy; [earnestly] remember the Lord and imprint Him [on your minds], great and terrible, and [take from Him courage to] fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.

¹⁵ And when our enemies heard that their plot was known to us and that God had frustrated their purpose, we all returned to the wall, everyone to his work.

¹⁶ And from that time forth, half of my servants worked at the task, and the other half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail; and the leaders stood behind all the house of Judah.

¹⁷ Those who built the wall and those who bore burdens loaded themselves so that everyone worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other hand,

¹⁸ And every builder had his sword girded by his side, and so worked. And he who sounded the trumpet was at my side.

¹⁹ And I said to the nobles and officials and the rest of the people, The work is great and scattered, and we are separated on the wall, one far from another.

²⁰ In whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.

²¹ So we labored at the work while half of them held the spears from dawn until the stars came out.

²² At that time also I said to the people, Let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that at night they may be a guard to us and a laborer during the day.

²³ So none of us—I, my kinsmen, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me—took off our clothes; each kept his weapon [in his hand for days].

5 Now there arose a great cry of the [poor] people and of their wives [driven to borrowing] against their Jewish brethren [the few who could afford to lend].

² For some said, We, our sons and daughters, are many; therefore allow us to take grain, that we may eat and live! If we are not given grain, let us take it!

³ Also some said, We are mortgaging our lands, vineyards, and houses to buy grain because of the scarcity.

⁴ Others said, We have borrowed money on our fields and vineyards to pay the [Persian] king’s heavy tax.

⁵ Although our flesh is the same as that of our brethren and our children are as theirs, yet we are forced to sell our children as slaves; some of our daughters have already been thus sold, and we are powerless to redeem them, for others have our lands and vineyards.

⁶ I [Nehemiah] was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.

⁷ I thought it over and then rebuked the nobles and officials. I told them, You are exacting interest from your own kinsmen. And I held a great assembly against them.

⁸ I said to them, We, according to our ability, have bought back our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations; but will you even sell your brethren, that they may be sold to us? Then they were silent and found not a word to say.

⁹ Also I said, What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts and reproach of the nations, our enemies?

¹⁰ I, my brethren, and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us stop this forbidden interest!^(D)

¹¹ Return this very day to them their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and houses, and also a hundredth of all the money, grain, new wine, and oil that you have exacted from them.

¹² Then they said, We will restore these and require nothing from them. We will do as you say. Then I called the priests and took an oath of the lenders that they would do according to this promise.

¹³ I shook out my lap and said, So may God shake out every man from his house and from [the exercise and fruits of] his labor who does not keep this promise! So may he be shaken out and emptied. And all the assembly said, Amen, and praised the Lord. And the people did according to this promise.

¹⁴ Also, in the twelve years after I was appointed to be their governor in Judah, from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, neither I nor my kin ate the food allowed to [me] the governor.

¹⁵ But the former governors lived at the expense of the people and took from them food and wine, besides forty shekels of silver [a large monthly official salary]; yes, even their servants assumed authority over the people. But I did not so because of my [reverent] fear of God.

¹⁶ I also held fast to the work on this wall; and we bought no land. And all my servants were gathered there for the work.

¹⁷ And there were at my table 150 Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations about us.

¹⁸ Now these were prepared for each day: one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days a store of all sorts of wine. Yet for all this, I did not demand [my rights] the food allowed me as governor, for the [tribute] bondage was heavy upon this people.

¹⁹ O my God, [earnestly] remember me for good for all I have done for this people.^(E)