The Daily Audio Bible

The Prayer of Nehemiah

1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hakaliah.

In the month Kislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the palace, ² Hanani, one of my relatives, and some men of Judah arrived. So I asked them concerning the returning Jews who had been in captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

³ They said to me, “The remnant that returned from captivity is there in the province enduring great affliction and reproach. Also, the wall of Jerusalem remains broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

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

“I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and mercy for those who love Him and keep His commandments. ⁶ Let Your ear now be attentive, and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant, which I now pray before You, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. ⁷ We have acted very corruptly against You and have not obeyed the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which You commanded Your servant Moses.

⁸ “Please remember the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you behave unfaithfully, then I will scatter you among the nations, ⁹ but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though your outcasts are under the farthest part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and bring them back to the place where I have chosen to establish My name.’

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, I implore You, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. And let Your servant prosper this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”

For I was the king’s cupbearer.

Nehemiah Sent to Jerusalem

2 In the month of Nisan, during the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. Never had I been upset in his presence. ² So the king said to me, “Why is your face troubled though you do not seem sick? This is nothing but a troubled heart.”

Then I became very much afraid ³ and said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should not my face be troubled when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

⁴ So the king said to me, “What are you requesting about this matter?”

Immediately, I prayed to the God of heaven ⁵ and then said to the king, “If this pleases the king and if this might be good for your servant who is before you, then would you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs so that I may rebuild it?”

⁶ The king, with the queen sitting beside him, said to me, “How long would your journey be? And when will you return?” Because it pleased the king to send me, I established a timetable for him.

⁷ I further said to the king, “If this pleases the king, may letters be given to me for the governors of the province Beyond the River so that they would allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, ⁸ as well as a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the temple mount, for the city wall, and for the house into which I will enter.” The king granted me these things, because the good hand of my God was upon me. ⁹ When I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River, I gave them the king’s letters. He also sent with me commanders of foot and horse soldiers.

¹⁰ When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite subordinate heard this, it deeply grieved them that there was a man coming to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem’s Walls

¹¹ When I arrived in Jerusalem, I was there three days. ¹² Then I arose in the night, I and a few men who were with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me, except the one on which I rode.

¹³ So I went out by night by the Valley Gate toward the Dragon’s Well and then to the Dung Gate, because I was inspecting the broken-down walls of Jerusalem and its burned gates. ¹⁴ Next I passed by the Fountain Gate and then to the King’s Pool, but there was no place for my mount to pass. ¹⁵ By going up along the riverbed at night, I inspected the wall. Then I turned back so that I could enter by the Valley Gate, and then came back again. ¹⁶ The officials did not know where I went or what I did, since I had not yet told it to the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or to any of the others who would do the work.

¹⁷ Finally, I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem is devastated and its gates are burned with fire. Come, and let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no more be a reproach.” ¹⁸ Then I told them that the hand of my God had been good to me and also about the king’s words that he 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, Tobiah the Ammonite subordinate, and Geshem the Arabian heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

²⁰ Then answered I them and said to them, “The God of heaven, He will enable us to prosper. Therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you will have no portion, or right, or memorial in Jerusalem.”

Rebuilding the Wall

3 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. They sanctified it and erected its doors. From the Tower of the Hundred to the Tower of Hananel, they sanctified the wall. ² Next to him the men of Jericho built, and next to them Zakkur the son of Imri built.

³ The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate, constructing its beams, erecting its doors, and installing locks and bars for it. ⁴ Next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz made repairs. Next to him, Meshullam the son of Berekiah, the son of Meshezabel made repairs. Next to him Zadok the son of Baana made repairs. ⁵ Next to them the Tekoites made repairs, but their noblemen would not put their shoulders to the work of their Lord.

⁶ Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired the Old Gate. They constructed its beams, erected its doors, and installed locks and bars for it. ⁷ Next to them repairs were made by Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, places under the authority of the governor of the province Beyond the River. ⁸ Next to them Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. Next to him Hananiah, the son of one of the apothecaries, made repairs, and they repaired Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. ⁹ Next to him Rephaiah the son of Hur, commander of half of the Jerusalem district, made repairs. ¹⁰ Next to him Jedaiah the son of Harumaph made repairs across from his house. Next to him Hattush the son of Hashabneiah made repairs. ¹¹ Malkijah the son of Harim and Hasshub the son of Pahath-Moab repaired another section, as well as the Tower of the Furnaces. ¹² Next to them Shallum the son of Hallohesh, commander of the other half of the Jerusalem district, made repairs along with his daughters.

¹³ Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate. They rebuilt it, erected its doors, and installed locks and bars for it, plus repaired one thousand cubits^[a] along on the wall to the Dung Gate.

¹⁴ But the Dung Gate was repaired by Malkijah the son of Rekab, commander of the Beth Hakkerem district. He rebuilt it, and erected its doors, and installed the locks and bars for it.

Questions 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 Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. ³ Let the husband render to the wife due affection, and likewise the wife to the husband. ⁴ The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. ⁵ Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer. Then come together again, so that Satan does not tempt you for lack of self-control. ⁶ I speak this as a concession and not as a command. ⁷ For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man has his proper gift from God, one after this manner and another after that.

⁸ I say to the unmarried and widows that it is good for them if they live even as I am. ⁹ But if they cannot restrain themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

¹⁰ Now to the married I command, not I, but the Lord, do not let the wife depart from her husband. ¹¹ But if she departs, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And do not let the husband divorce his wife.

¹² To the rest I speak, not the Lord: If any brother has an unbelieving wife who consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. ¹³ And if the woman has an unbelieving husband who consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. ¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean. But now they are holy.

¹⁵ But if the unbeliever departs, let that one depart. A brother or a sister is not bound in such cases. God has called us to peace. ¹⁶ For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

Living as God Called You

¹⁷ But as God has given to every man and as the Lord has called every man, so let him walk. This I command in all churches. ¹⁸ Is any man called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Is any man called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. ¹⁹ Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God is everything. ²⁰ Let each man remain in the same condition in which he was called.

²¹ Were you called while a servant? Do not worry about it. But if you may become free, do so. ²² For he who is called in the Lord while a servant is the Lord’s freeman. Likewise, he who is called while free is Christ’s servant. ²³ You were bought at a price. Do not be the servants of men. ²⁴ Brothers, let every man, in whatever condition he is called, remain there with God.