--- title: "Preparation to Restore Jerusalem" description: "These are the words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived with men from Judah. So I questioned them about the remnant of the Jews who had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. And they told me, “The remnant who survived the exile are there in the province, in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” When I heard these" image: "" book: "Nehemiah" bookId: "NEH" testament: "old" startChapter: 1 startVerse: 1 endChapter: 2 endVerse: 20 coversChapters: [1,2] aiTitle: "Preparation to Restore Jerusalem" aiDescription: "These are the words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived with men from Judah. So I questioned them about the remnant of the Jews who had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. And they told me, “The remnant who survived the exile are there in the province, in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” When I heard these" hasAiStory: true location: "Jerusalem" persons: ["Artaxerxes","Asaph","Geshem","God","Hacaliah","Hanani","Israelites","Moses","Nehemiah","Sanballat","Tobiah"] hashtags: ["covenant","mercy","redemption","servanthood","survival"] genre: "history" readingTime: 5 type: "adaptive" slug: "NEH/preparation-to-restore-jerusalem" canonicalId: "NEH.1.1-2.20" chronologicalOrder: 1255 relatedSlugs: ["DAN/daniels-prayer","DEU/in-the-plains-of-moab","EXO/the-ten-commandments-moses-comforts-the-people","DEU/the-curses-of-disobedience","JER/letter-to-the-exiles-in-babylon","PSA/psalm-106-give-thanks-to-the-lord-for-he-is-good","LEV/punishments-for-disobedience-2","EZR/ezra-arrives-at-jerusalem","1KI/the-lords-response-to-solomon","DEU/the-promise-of-restoration","GEN/joseph-in-prison","PSA/psalm-137-by-the-rivers-of-babylon","PSA/psalm-34-taste-and-see-that-the-lord-is-good","EZR/shecaniah-encourages-ezra","PRO/the-kings-heart","EZR/intermarriage-with-neighboring-peoples-ezras-prayer-of-confession","HEB/sacrifice-obedience-and-prayer"] prevSlug: null nextSlug: "NEH/the-builders-of-the-walls" --- ### Nehemiah’s Prayer These are the words of [Nehemiah](/persons/nehemiah) son of [Hacaliah](/persons/hacaliah):
In the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, [Hanani](/persons/hanani), one of my brothers, arrived with men from Judah. So I questioned them about the remnant of the Jews who had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. And they told me, “The remnant who survived the exile are there in the province, in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the [God](/persons/god) of heaven. Then I said:
“O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion with those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to hear the prayer that I, Your servant, now pray before You day and night for Your servants, the [Israelites](/persons/israelites).
I confess the sins that we Israelites have committed against You. Both I and my father’s house have sinned. We have behaved corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that You gave Your servant [Moses](/persons/moses). Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses when You said, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to Me and keep and practice My commandments, then even if your exiles have been banished to the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for My Name.’ They are Your servants and Your people. You redeemed them by Your great power and mighty hand. O Lord, may Your ear be attentive to my prayer and to the prayers of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. Give Your servant success this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”
(At that time I was the cupbearer to the king.) ### Nehemiah Sent to Jerusalem Now in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King [Artaxerxes](/persons/artaxerxes), when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence, so the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, though you are not ill? This could only be sadness of the heart.”
I was overwhelmed with fear and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” “What is your request?” replied the king.
So I prayed to the God of heaven and answered the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city where my fathers are buried, so that I may rebuild it.” Then the king, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set a time. I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may letters be given to me for the governors west of the Euphrates, so that they will grant me safe passage until I reach Judah. And may I have a letter to [Asaph](/persons/asaph), keeper of the king’s forest, so that he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house I will occupy.”
And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests. Then I went to the governors west of the Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me. But when [Sanballat](/persons/sanballat) the Horonite and [Tobiah](/persons/tobiah) the Ammonite official heard about this, they were deeply disturbed that someone had come to seek the well-being of the Israelites. ### Nehemiah Inspects the Walls After I had arrived in Jerusalem and had been there three days, I set out at night with a few men. I did not tell anyone what my God had laid on my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal with me was the one on which I was riding. So I went out at night through the Valley Gate toward the Well of the Serpent and the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and the gates that had been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to get through; so I went up the valley by night and inspected the wall. Then I headed back and reentered through the Valley Gate. The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, for I had not yet told the Jews or priests or nobles or officials or any other workers. Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned down. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.” I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me, and what the king had said to me.
“Let us start rebuilding,” they replied, and they set their hands to this good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and [Geshem](/persons/geshem) the Arab heard about this, they mocked us and ridiculed us, saying, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” So I answered them and said, “The God of heaven is the One who will grant us success. We, His servants, will start rebuilding, but you have no portion, right, or claim in Jerusalem.”

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