Old Testament
Nehemiah
13 chapters
Start reading: Nehemiah 1About this book
Nehemiah is the memoir of a Jewish cupbearer to the Persian king who hears that Jerusalem's walls still lie in ruins and is moved to weeping, fasting and prayer. With the king's permission he travels to the city, surveys the damage by night and rallies the people to rebuild. The walls go up in about fifty-two days despite mockery, threats of attack, internal injustice over debts and attempts to lure Nehemiah into distraction or fear. After the wall is finished, Ezra reads the law aloud to a gathered people, who weep, celebrate the Feast of Booths and lead a long prayer of confession recalling God's faithfulness. They pledge to live by the covenant, and Jerusalem is repopulated and its wall dedicated with singing. Nehemiah's later return finds old habits creeping back, and he pushes again for reform. The book pairs practical leadership with deep prayer, and shows that rebuilding a community takes both courage and humility.
- Author
- Unknown; much of the book is Nehemiah's own first-person memoir, and Ezra and Nehemiah were once counted as one book.
- Date
- Events run from about 445 BC, in the Persian period; the book was likely compiled in the century after.
- Audience
- The restored Jewish community in Jerusalem, and later readers of God's people.
Themes
Outline
- 1:1–2:20Nehemiah's prayer and commission
- 3:1–4:23Building the wall under threat
- 5:1–6:19Injustice and intrigue, then completion
- 7:1–8:18The law read and the feast kept
- 9:1–10:39Confession and covenant
- 11:1–13:31Dedication and further reforms
Key verses
Chapters of Nehemiah
- 1Nehemiah 1Nehemiah, cupbearer to the Persian king, hears from his brother that Jerusalem's wall lies broken and its people are in trouble.
- 2Nehemiah 2Months later, Nehemiah's sadness shows before the king, who asks what he wants.
- 3Nehemiah 3This chapter lists who rebuilt each section of Jerusalem's wall and its gates: priests, goldsmiths, perfumers, officials, and even daughters of one leader.
- 4Nehemiah 4Sanballat and Tobiah ridicule the builders, saying even a fox could knock down their wall.
- 5Nehemiah 5A crisis erupts inside the community: poor families, hit by famine and taxes, have mortgaged fields and even sold children into servitude to fellow Jews.
- 6Nehemiah 6With the wall nearly done, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem try to lure Nehemiah away to meet on the plain of Ono, four times, then send an open letter accusing him of planning a rebellion.
- 7Nehemiah 7With the wall complete, Nehemiah appoints his brother Hanani and Hananiah, a faithful man who feared God more than most, to govern Jerusalem, and gives instructions for guarding the gates.
- 8Nehemiah 8All the people gather in the square at the Water Gate and ask Ezra to bring the book of the law.
- 9Nehemiah 9Two days after the feast, the people fast, wear sackcloth, separate from foreigners, and confess their sins as the Levites lead a long prayer.
- 10Nehemiah 10Leaders, Levites, and priests sign a written covenant, and the rest of the people join with oaths to follow God's law.
- 11Nehemiah 11Since Jerusalem is sparsely populated, the leaders settle there and the rest cast lots so one in ten people will move into the holy city, while the others stay in surrounding towns.
- 12Nehemiah 12The chapter lists priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and their descendants.
- 13Nehemiah 13When Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem after a period away, he finds serious lapses: Tobiah has been given a room in the temple storehouse, the Levites' portions have not been given so they have left to farm, people trade on the Sabbath, and some have married foreign spouses in ways that draw them from faith.