Nehemiah 1

CHAPTER 1

Nehemiah Prays for the Sons of Israel

¹The words of ^aNehemiah the son of Hacaliah.

Now it happened in ^bthe month Chislev, ^cin the twentieth year—and I was in ^dSusa the ¹capitol—

²that ^aHanani, one of my brothers, and ¹some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and remain from the captivity, and about Jerusalem.

³They said to me, “The remnant there in the ^aprovince who remain from the captivity are in great calamity and ^breproach, and ^cthe wall of Jerusalem is broken down and ^dits gates are burned with fire.”

⁴Now it happened that when I heard these words, ^aI sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before ^bthe God of heaven.

⁵I said, “I beseech You, O ¹Yahweh, the God of heaven, ^athe great and fearsome God, ^bwho keeps the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,

^6alet Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your slave which I am praying before You today, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your slaves, ^bconfessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; ^cI and my father’s house have sinned.

⁷“^aWe have worked in utter destruction against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments ^bwhich You commanded Your ¹servant Moses.

⁸“Remember the word which You commanded Your ¹servant Moses, saying, ‘^aIf you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples;

^9abut if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been banished were at the ends of the sky, I ^bwill gather them from there and will bring them ^cto the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’

¹⁰“^aThey are Your slaves and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand.

¹¹“O Lord, I beseech You, ^amay Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your slave and the prayer of Your slaves who delight to fear Your name, and make Your slave successful today and grant him compassion before this man.”

Now I was the ^bcupbearer to the king.