Nehemiah 1–2

1This is the account of what Nehemiah son of Hacaliah accomplished.

Nehemiah’s Concern for Jerusalem

In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year that Artaxerxes was emperor of Persia, I, Nehemiah, was in Susa, the capital city. ²Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived from Judah with another group, and I asked them about Jerusalem and about our fellow-Jews who had returned from exile in^a Babylonia. ³They told me that those who had survived and were back in the homeland^b were in great difficulty and that the foreigners who lived near by looked down on them. They also told me that the walls of Jerusalem were still broken down and that the gates had not been restored since the time they were burnt. ⁴When I heard all this, I sat down and wept.

For several days I mourned and did not eat. I prayed to God, ⁵“Lord God of Heaven! You are great, and we stand in fear of you. You faithfully keep your covenant with those who love you and do what you command. ⁶Look at me, Lord, and hear my prayer, as I pray day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess that we, the people of Israel, have sinned. My ancestors and I have sinned. ⁷We have acted wickedly against you and have not done what you commanded. We have not kept the laws which you gave us through Moses, your servant. ^8*Remember now what you told Moses: ‘If you people of Israel are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the other nations. ^9*But then if you turn back to me and do what I have commanded you, I will bring you back to the place where I have chosen to be worshipped, even though you are scattered to the ends of the earth.’

¹⁰“Lord, these are your servants, your own people. You rescued them by your great power and strength. ¹¹Listen now to my prayer and to the prayers of all your other servants who want to honour you. Give me success today and make the emperor merciful to me.”

In those days I was the emperor’s wine steward.

Nehemiah Goes to Jerusalem

2One day four months later, when Emperor Artaxerxes was dining, I took the wine to him. He had never seen me look sad before, ²so he asked, “Why are you looking so sad? You aren’t ill, so it must be that you’re unhappy.”

I was startled ^3*and answered, “May Your Majesty live for ever! How can I help looking sad when the city where my ancestors are buried is in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

⁴The emperor asked, “What is it that you want?”

I prayed to the God of Heaven, ⁵and then I said to the emperor, “If Your Majesty is pleased with me and is willing to grant my request, let me go to the land of Judah, to the city where my ancestors are buried, so that I can rebuild the city.”

⁶The emperor, with the empress sitting at his side, approved my request. He asked me how long I would be gone and when I would return, and I told him.

⁷Then I asked him to grant me the favour of giving me letters to the governors of West Euphrates Province,^c instructing them to let me travel to Judah. ⁸I asked also for a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal forests, instructing him to supply me with timber for the gates of the fort that guards the Temple, for the city walls, and for the house I was to live in. The emperor gave me all I asked for, because God was with me.

⁹The emperor sent some army officers and a troop of horsemen with me, and I made the journey to West Euphrates. There I gave the emperor’s letters to the governors. ¹⁰But Sanballat, from the town of Beth Horon, and Tobiah, an official in the province of Ammon, heard that someone had come to work for the good of the people of Israel, and they were highly indignant.

¹¹I went on to Jerusalem, and for three days ¹²I did not tell anyone what God had inspired me to do for Jerusalem. Then in the middle of the night I got up and went out, taking a few of my companions with me. The only animal we took was the donkey that I rode on. ¹³It was still night as I left the city through the Valley Gate on the west and went south past Dragon’s Fountain to the Rubbish Gate. As I went, I inspected the broken walls of the city and the gates that had been destroyed by fire. ¹⁴Then on the east side of the city I went north to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool. The donkey I was riding could not find any path through the rubble, ¹⁵so I went down into the valley of the Kidron and rode along, looking at the wall. Then I returned the way I had come and went back into the city through the Valley Gate.

¹⁶None of the local officials knew where I had been or what I had been doing. So far I had not said anything to any of my fellow-Jews—the priests, the leaders, the officials, or anyone else who would be taking part in the work. ¹⁷But now I said to them, “See what trouble we are in because Jerusalem is in ruins and its gates are destroyed! Let’s rebuild the city walls and put an end to our disgrace.” ¹⁸And I told them how God had been with me and helped me, and what the emperor had said to me.

They responded, “Let’s start rebuilding!” And they got ready to start the work.

¹⁹When Sanballat, Tobiah, and an Arab named Geshem heard what we were planning to do, they laughed at us and said, “What do you think you’re doing? Are you going to rebel against the emperor?”

²⁰I answered, “The God of Heaven will give us success. We are his servants, and we are going to start building. But you have no right to any property in Jerusalem, and you have no share in its traditions.”