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Nehemiah 1:1-7:72

NEHEMIAH. Nehemiah's concern for Jerusalem. (Ne.1.1-11)

1¹The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. It happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, ²that Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived with some men from Judah. I asked them about the Jews—those who had escaped and those who survived from the captivity—and about Jerusalem. ³They replied, 'The survivors remaining there in the province since the captivity are in a very bad and demoralised condition: the walls of Jerusalem are in ruins and its gates have been burnt down.' ⁴On hearing this I sat down and wept; for some days I mourned, fasting and praying before the God of heaven. ⁵I said, 'Yahweh, God of heaven—the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps a covenant of faithful love with those who love him and obey his commandments- ⁶let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to listen to your servant's prayer, which I now offer to you day and night on behalf of your servants the Israelites. I admit the sins of the Israelites, which we have committed against you. Both I and my father's House have sinned; ⁷we have acted very wickedly towards you by not keeping the commandments, laws and rulings which you enjoined on your servant Moses. ⁸Remember, I beg you, the promise which you solemnly made to your servant Moses, 'If you are unfaithful, I shall scatter you among the peoples; ⁹but if you come back to me and keep my commandments and practise them, even though those who have been banished are at the very sky's end, I shall gather them from there and bring them back to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling-place for my name.' ¹⁰Since they are your servants, your people, whom you have redeemed with your mighty power and strong hand, ¹¹O Lord, let your ear now be attentive to your servant's prayer and to the prayer of your servants who want to revere your name. I beg you let your servant be successful today and win this man's compassion.' At the time I was cupbearer to the king.

Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem. (Ne.2.1-20)

2¹In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, since I was in charge of the wine, I took the wine and offered it to the king. Now, he had never seen me looking depressed before. ²So the king said to me, 'Why are you looking depressed? You are not sick! This must be a sadness of the heart.' Thoroughly alarmed by this, ³I said to the king, 'May the king live for ever! How can I not look depressed when the city where the tombs of my ancestors are lies in ruins and its gates have been burnt down?' ⁴The king then said to me, 'What would you like me to do?' Praying to the God of heaven, ⁵I said to the king, 'If the king approves and your servant enjoys your favour, send me to Judah, to the city of the tombs of my ancestors, so that I can rebuild it.' ⁶The king—with the queen sitting beside him-said, 'How long will your journey take, and when will you come back?' Once I had given him a definite time, the king approved my mission. ⁷I then said to the king, 'If the king approves, may I be given orders for the governors of Transeuphrates to let me pass through on my way to Judah? ⁸Also an order for Asaph, keeper of the king's forest, to supply me with timber for the beams of the gates of the citadel of the Temple, for the city walls and for the house which I am to occupy?' These the king granted me because the kindly hand of my God was over me. ⁹When I reached the governors of Transeuphrates, I gave them the king's orders. The king had sent an escort of army officers and cavalry along with me. ¹⁰When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the official of Ammon heard about this, they were exceedingly displeased that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites. ¹¹And so I reached Jerusalem. After I had been there three days, ¹²I got up during the night with a few other men—I had not told anyone what my God had inspired me to do for Jerusalem—taking no animal with me other than my own mount. ¹³Under cover of dark I went out through the Valley Gate towards the Dragon's Fountain as far as the Dung Gate, and examined the wall of Jerusalem where it was broken down and its gates burnt out. ¹⁴I then crossed to the Fountain Gate and the King's Pool, but it was impassable to my mount. ¹⁵So I went up the Valley in the dark, examining the wall; I then went in again through the Valley Gate, coming back ¹⁶without the officials knowing where I had gone or what I had been doing. So far I had said nothing to the Jews: neither to the priests, the nobles, the officials nor any other persons involved in the undertaking. ¹⁷I then said to them, 'You see what a sorry state we are in: Jerusalem is in ruins and its gates have been burnt down. Come on, we must rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and put an end to our humiliating position!' ¹⁸And I told them how the kindly hand of my God had been over me, and the words which the king had said to me. At this they said, 'Let us start building at once!' and they set their hands to the good work. ¹⁹When Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the official of Ammon, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they laughed at us and jeered. They said, 'What is this you are doing? Are you going to revolt against the king?' ²⁰But I gave them this answer, 'The God of heaven will grant us success and we, his servants, mean to start building; as for you, you have neither share nor right nor memorial in Jerusalem.'

Rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. (Ne.3.1-16)

3¹Eliashib the high priest with his brother priests then set to work and rebuilt the Sheep Gate; they made the framework, hung its doors, fixed its bolts and bars and proceeded as far as the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel. ²The men of Jericho built next to him; Zaccur son of Imri built next to them. ³The sons of Ha-Senaah rebuilt the Fish Gate; they made the framework, hung its doors and fixed its bolts and bars. ⁴Meremoth son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz, carried out repairs next to them; Meshullam son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel, carried out repairs next to him; and Zadok son of Baana carried out repairs next to him. ⁵The men of Tekoa carried out repairs next to him, though their nobles would not demean themselves to help their masters. ⁶Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah repaired the gate of the New Quarter; they made the framework, hung its doors and fixed its bolts and bars. ⁷Next to them repairs were carried out by Melatiah of Gibeon, Jadon of Meronoth, and the men of Gibeon and Mizpah, for the sake of the governor of Transeuphrates. ⁸Next to them repairs were carried out by Uzziel son of Harhaiah, a member of the metal-workers' guild, and next to him repairs were carried out by Hananiah of the perfumers' guild. These renovated the wall of Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. ⁹Next to them repairs were carried out by Rephaiah son of Hur, who was head of one half of the district of Jerusalem. ¹⁰Next to them Jedaiah son of Harumaph carried out repairs opposite his own house; next to him repairs were carried out by Hattush son of Hashabneiah. ¹¹Malchijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-Moab repaired another section as far as the Furnace Tower. ¹²Next to them repairs were carried out by Shallum son of Hallohesh, head of the other half of the district of Jerusalem, by him and his sons. ¹³Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate: they rebuilt it, hung its doors and fixed its bolts and bars; they also repaired a thousand cubits of wall up to the Dung Gate. ¹⁴Malchijah son of Rechab, head of the district of Beth-ha-Cherem, repaired the Dung Gate; he rebuilt it, hung its doors and fixed its bolts and bars. ¹⁵Shallum son of Col-Hozeh, head of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate; he rebuilt it, roofed it, hung its doors and fixed its bolts and bars. He also rebuilt the wall of the Pool of Siloah, adjoining the king's garden, as far as the steps going down from the City of David. ¹⁶After him, Nehemiah son of Azbuk, head of half the district of Beth-Zur, carried out repairs from a point opposite the Davidic Tombs to the artificial pool and the House of the Champions.

Levites who worked on the wall. (Ne.3.17-21)

¹⁷After him, repairs were carried out by the Levites: Rehum son of Bani; and next to him Hashabiah, head of one half of the district of Keilah, carried out repairs for his own district. ¹⁸After him, repairs were carried out by their brothers: Binnui son of Henadad, head of the other half of the district of Keilah. ¹⁹Next to him, Ezer son of Jeshua, headman of Mizpah, repaired another section in front of the ascent to the armoury at the Angle. ²⁰After him, Baruch son of Zabbai repaired another section from the Angle to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest. ²¹After him, Meremoth son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz, repaired another section from the door of Eliashib's house as far as the end of Eliashib's house.

Priests who worked on the wall. (Ne.3.22-26)

²²And after him repairs were carried out by the priests who lived in the district. ²³After them repairs were carried out by Benjamin and Hasshub, opposite their own house. After them repairs were carried out by Azariah son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, beside his own house. ²⁴After him, Binnui son of Henadad repaired another section from Azariah's house as far as the Angle at the corner. ²⁵After him, Palal son of Uzai carried out repairs in front of the Angle and the tower projecting from the king's Upper Palace by the Court of the Guard; and after him, Pedaiah son of Parosh carried out the repairs ²⁶to a point by the Water Gate to the east and the projecting tower.

Other builders. (Ne.3.27-32)

²⁷After him, the men of Tekoa repaired another section from in front of the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel. ²⁸From the Horse Gate onwards repairs were carried out by the priests, each in front of his own house. ²⁹After them repairs were carried out by Zadok son of Immer in front of his house, and after him repairs were carried out by Shemaiah son of Shechaniah, keeper of the East Gate. ³⁰After him Hananiah son of Shelemiah and Hanun sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section, after whom repairs were carried out by Meshullam son of Berechiah in front of his room. ³¹After him Malchijah, of the metal-workers' guild, repaired as far as the Hall of the temple slaves and merchants, in front of the Muster Gate, as far as the upper room at the corner. ³²And between the upper room at the corner and the Sheep Gate repairs were carried out by the goldsmiths and the merchants. ³³When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furiously angry. ³⁴He ridiculed the Jews and in front of his kinsmen and the aristocracy of Samaria he exclaimed, 'What are these pathetic Jews doing . . . ? Are they going to give up? Or offer sacrifices? Or complete the work in a day? Can they put new life into stones taken from rubbish heaps and even charred?' ³⁵And beside him Tobiah of Ammon remarked, 'If a jackal were to jump on what they are building, it would knock their stone wall down!' ³⁶Listen, our God, for we are despised! Make their sneers fall back on their own heads! Send them as booty to a land of captivity! ³⁷Do not pardon their wickedness, may their sin never be erased before you, for they have insulted the builders to their face! ³⁸Meanwhile we were rebuilding the wall, which was soon joined up all the way round to mid-height; the people put their hearts into the work.

Nehemiah overcomes oppostion to the work. (Ne.4.1-23)

4¹When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that repairs to the walls of Jerusalem were going forward—that the gaps were beginning to fill up—they became very angry, ²and they all plotted to come and attack Jerusalem and upset my plans. ³We, however, prayed to our God and organised a guard day and night to protect the city from them. ⁴But in Judah the saying went, 'The strength of the carrier falters, the rubbish heap is so vast that by ourselves we cannot rebuild the wall!' ⁵And our opponents said, 'They will never know or see a thing, until we are in there among them, and then we shall massacre them and put a stop to the work.' ⁶Now when the Jews who lived near them had warned us ten times over, 'They are coming up against us from every place they live in,' ⁷men took up position in the space behind the wall at those points where it was lowest, and I organised the people by families with their swords, spears and bows. ⁸Aware of their anxiety, I then addressed the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, 'Do not be afraid of them. Remember the great and awe-inspiring Lord and fight for your kinsmen, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your homes.' ⁹Once our enemies heard that we were forewarned and that God had thwarted their plan, they withdrew and we all went back to the wall, each one to his work. ¹⁰From then on, half my own retainers went on working, while the other half stood by, armed with spears, shields, bows and armour to protect the whole House of Judah as they rebuilt the wall. ¹¹The carriers were armed, working with one hand and holding a spear in the other. ¹²Each builder had his sword strapped to his side as he built. Beside me stood a trumpeter. ¹³I then said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, 'The work is great and widely spread out, and we are deployed along the wall some way from one another. ¹⁴Rally to us wherever you hear the trumpet sounding; our God will fight for us.' ¹⁵And so we went on with the work from break of day until the stars came out. ¹⁶At the same time I also told the people, 'Let every man, with his attendant, spend the night inside Jerusalem; we shall spend the night on guard and the day at work.' ¹⁷Neither I, nor my brothers, nor my attendants, nor my bodyguards, ever took off our clothes; each one kept his spear in his right hand.

Oppression of the poor. (Ne.5.1-13)

5¹There was a great outcry from the people, and from their wives, against their brother Jews. ²Some said, 'We are having to pledge our sons and daughters to get enough grain to eat and keep us alive.' ³Others said, 'We are having to mortgage our fields, our vineyards and our houses to get grain because of the shortage.' ⁴Still others said, 'We have had to borrow money on our fields and our vineyards to pay the royal tax; ⁵and though we belong to the same race as our brothers, and our children are as good as theirs, we shall have to sell our sons and our daughters into slavery; some of our daughters have been sold into slavery already. We can do nothing about it, since our fields and our vineyards now belong to others.' ⁶When I heard their complaints and these words I was very angry. ⁷Having turned the matter over in my mind, I reprimanded the nobles and the officials as follows, 'Each of you is imposing a burden on his brother.' Summoning a great assembly to deal with them, ⁸I said to them, 'To the best of our power, we have redeemed our brother Jews who were forced to sell themselves to foreigners, and now you in turn are selling your brothers, for them to be bought back by us!' They were silent and could find nothing to say. ⁹'What you are doing', I went on, 'is wrong. Do you not want to walk in the fear of our God and escape the sneers of the nations, our enemies? ¹⁰I too, with my brothers and retainers, have lent them money and grain. Let us cancel these pledges. ¹¹This very day return them their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves and their houses, and cancel the claim on the money, grain, new wine and olive oil, which you have lent them.' ¹²'We shall make restitution,' they replied, 'we shall claim nothing more from them; we shall do as you say.' Summoning the priests, I then made them swear to do as they had promised. ¹³Then, shaking out the fold of my garment, I said, 'May God thus shake out of house and possessions anyone who does not make good this promise; may he be shaken out thus and left empty!' And the whole assembly answered, 'Amen' and praised Yahweh. And the people kept this promise.

Nehemiah's unselfishness. (Ne.5.14-19)

¹⁴What is more, from the time when the king appointed me to be their governor in Judah, from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ever levied the governor's subsistence allowance, ¹⁵whereas the former governors, my predecessors, had been a burden on the people, from whom they took forty silver shekels a day for food and wine, while their attendants oppressed the people too. But I, fearing God, never did this. ¹⁶Also, not acquiring any land, I concentrated on the work of this wall and all my attendants joined in the work together, too. ¹⁷Furthermore, magistrates and officials to the number of a hundred and fifty ate at my table, not to mention those who came to us from the surrounding nations. ¹⁸Every day, one ox, six fine sheep, as well as poultry, were prepared for me; every ten days, skins of wine were brought in bulk. But even so, I never claimed the governor's subsistence allowance, since the people already had burden enough to bear. ¹⁹To my credit, my God, remember all I have done for this people.

Plots against Nehemiah. (Ne.6.1-14)

6¹When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and our other enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that not a single gap was left—though at that time I had not fixed the doors to the gates- ²Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message, 'Come and meet us at Ha-Chephirim in the Vale of Ono.' But they had evil designs on me. ³So I sent messengers to them to say, 'I am engaged in a great undertaking, so I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?' ⁴Four times they sent me the same invitation and I made them the same reply. ⁵The fifth time, with the same purpose in mind, Sanballat sent me his servant bearing an open letter. ⁶It ran, 'There is a rumour among the nations—and Gashmu confirms it—that you and the Jews are thinking of rebelling, which is why you are rebuilding the wall, and you intend to become their king; ⁷and that you have even briefed prophets to acclaim you in Jerusalem with the cry, 'There is a king in Judah!' Now, these rumours are going to reach the king; so you had better come and discuss them with us.' ⁸To this I sent him the following reply, 'As regards what you say, nothing of the sort has occurred; it is a figment of your own imagination.' ⁹For they were all trying to terrorise us, thinking, 'They will become demoralised over the work and it will not get finished.' But my morale rose even higher. ¹⁰Then, when I went to visit Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, since he was prevented from coming to me, he said: We must gather at the Temple of God, inside the sanctuary itself; we must shut the sanctuary doors, for they are coming to kill you, they are coming to kill you tonight! ¹¹But I retorted, 'Should a man like me run away? Would a man like me go into the Temple to save his life? I shall not go in!' ¹²I realised that God had not sent him to say this, but that he had produced this prophecy for me because Tobiah was paying him ¹³to terrorise me into doing as he said and committing a sin, so that they would have grounds for blackening my reputation and blaming me. ¹⁴Remember Tobiah, my God, for what he did; and Noadiah the prophetess, and the other prophets who tried to terrorise me.

Conclusion of the work. (Ne.6.15-7.3)

¹⁵The wall was finished within fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth of Elul. ¹⁶When all our enemies heard about it and all the surrounding nations saw it, they thought it a wonderful thing, because they realised that this work had been accomplished by the power of our God. ¹⁷During this same period, the nobles of Judah kept sending letter after letter to Tobiah, and letters from Tobiah kept arriving for them; ¹⁸for he had many sworn to his interest in Judah, since he was son-in-law to Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah. ¹⁹They even cried up his good deeds in my presence, and they reported what I said back to him. And Tobiah kept sending letters to terrorise me. 7¹Now, when the wall had been rebuilt and I had hung the doors, the gatekeepers (the singers and the Levites) were then appointed. ²I entrusted the administration of Jerusalem to my brother Hanani, and to Hananiah the commander of the citadel, for he was a more trustworthy, God-fearing man than many others. ³I said to them, 'The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened until the sun gets hot; and the doors must be shut and barred before it begins to go down. Detail guards from the residents of Jerusalem, each to his post, in front of his own house.' ⁴The city was large and spacious but the population was small, and the houses had not been rebuilt.

Census - Those who returned from exile. (Ne.7.5-73)

⁵My God then inspired me to assemble the nobles, the officials and the people for the purpose of taking a census by families. I discovered the genealogical register of those who had returned in the first group, and there I found entered: ⁶These are the people of the province who returned from the captivity of the Exile, those whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town. ⁷They were the ones who arrived with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel: ⁸sons of Parosh, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two; ⁹sons of Shephatiah, three hundred and seventy-two; ¹⁰sons of Arah, six hundred and fifty-two; ¹¹sons of Pahath-Moab, that is to say sons of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and eighteen; ¹²sons of Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four; ¹³sons of Zattu, eight hundred and forty-five; ¹⁴sons of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty; ¹⁵sons of Binnui, six hundred and forty-eight; ¹⁶sons of Bebai, six hundred and twenty-eight; ¹⁷sons of Azgad, two thousand three hundred and twenty-two; ¹⁸sons of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-seven; ¹⁹sons of Bigvai, two thousand and sixty-seven; ²⁰sons of Adin, six hundred and fifty-five; ²¹sons of Ater, that is to say of Hezekiah, ninety-eight; ²²sons of Hashum, three hundred and twenty-eight; ²³sons of Bezai, three hundred and twenty-four; ²⁴sons of Hariph, one hundred and twelve; ²⁵sons of Gibeon, ninety-five; ²⁶men of Bethlehem and Netophah, one hundred and eighty-eight; ²⁷men of Anathoth, one hundred and twenty-eight; ²⁸men of Beth-Azmaveth, forty-two; ²⁹men of Kiriath-Jearim, Chephirah and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty-three; ³⁰men of Ramah and Geba, six hundred and twenty-one; ³¹men of Michmas, one hundred and twenty-two; ³²men of Bethel and Ai, one hundred and twenty-three; ³³men of the other Nebo, fifty-two; ³⁴sons of the other Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four; ³⁵sons of Harim, three hundred and twenty; ³⁶sons of Jericho, three hundred and forty-five; ³⁷sons of Lod, Hadid and Ono, seven hundred and twenty-one; ³⁸sons of Senaah, three thousand nine hundred and thirty. ³⁹The priests: sons of Jedaiah, of the House of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three; ⁴⁰sons of Immer, one thousand and fifty-two; ⁴¹sons of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred and forty-seven; ⁴²sons of Harim, one thousand and seventeen. ⁴³The Levites: sons of Jeshua, of Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodiah, seventy-four. ⁴⁴The singers: sons of Asaph, one hundred and forty-eight. ⁴⁵The gatekeepers: sons of Shallum, sons of Ater, sons of Talmon, sons of Akkub, sons of Hatita, sons of Shobai, one hundred and thirty-eight. ⁴⁶The temple slaves: sons of Ziha, sons of Hasupha, sons of Tabbaoth, ⁴⁷sons of Keros, sons of Sia, sons of Padon, ⁴⁸sons of Lebana, sons of Hagaba, sons of Shalmai, ⁴⁹sons of Hanan, sons of Giddel, sons of Gahar, ⁵⁰sons of Reaiah, sons of Rezin, sons of Nekoda, ⁵¹sons of Gazzam, sons of Uzza, sons of Paseah, ⁵²sons of Besai, sons of the Meunites, sons of the Nephusites, ⁵³sons of Bakbuk, sons of Hakupha, sons of Harhur, ⁵⁴sons of Bazlith, sons of Mehida, sons of Harsha, ⁵⁵sons of Barkos, sons of Sisera, sons of Temah, ⁵⁶sons of Nezaiah, sons of Hatipha. ⁵⁷The sons of Solomon's slaves: sons of Sotai, sons of Sophereth, sons of Perida, ⁵⁸sons of Jaala, sons of Darkon, sons of Giddel, ⁵⁹sons of Shephatiah, sons of Hattil, sons of Pochereth-ha-Zebaim, sons of Amon. ⁶⁰The total of the temple slaves and the sons of Solomon's slaves: three hundred and ninety-two. ⁶¹The following, who came from Tel-Melah, Tel-Harsha, Cherub, Addon and Immer, could not prove that their families and ancestry were of Israelite origin: ⁶²the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda: six hundred and forty-two. ⁶³And among the priests: the sons of Hobaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai—who had maried one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, whose name he adopted. ⁶⁴These had looked for their entries in the official genealogies but were not to be found there, and were hence disqualified from the priesthood. ⁶⁵Consequently, His Excellency forbade them to eat any of the consecrated food until a priest appeared who could consult urim and thummim. ⁶⁶The whole assembly numbered forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty people, ⁶⁷not counting their slaves and maidservants to the number of seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven. They also had two hundred and forty-five male and female singers. ⁶⁸They had four hundred and thirty-five camels and six thousand seven hundred and twenty donkeys. ⁶⁹A certain number of heads of families contributed to the work. His Excellency contributed one thousand gold drachmas, fifty bowls, and thirty priestly robes to the fund. ⁷⁰And heads of families gave twenty thousand gold drachmas and two thousand two hundred silver minas to the work fund. ⁷¹The gifts made by the rest of the people amounted to twenty thousand gold drachmas, two thousand silver minas, and sixty-seven priestly robes.

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⁷²The priests, the Levites and some of the people lived in Jerusalem and thereabouts; the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple slaves in their appropriate towns; and all the other Israelites, in their own towns. Now when the seventh month came round—the Israelites being in their towns-