Nehemiah's Concern for Jerusalem

¹This is the account of what Nehemiah son of Hacaliah accomplished. 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 the other Jews who had returned from exile in Babylonia.

³They told me that those who had survived and were back in the homeland were in great difficulty and that the foreigners who lived nearby 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 burned.

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.

⁸Remember now what you told Moses: ‘If you people of Israel are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the other nations.

⁹But 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 worshiped, 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 honor 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

¹One 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 sick, so it must be that you're unhappy.” I was startled

³and answered, “May Your Majesty live forever! How can I keep from 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 favor of giving me letters to the governors of West-of-Euphrates Province, 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 cavalry with me, and I made the journey to West-of-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 Kidron Valley 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 gone or what I had been doing. So far I had not said anything to any of the other 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.”

The Future Deliverance of Jerusalem

¹This is a message about Israel from the Lord, the Lord who spread out the skies, created the earth, and gave life to man. He says,

²“I will make Jerusalem like a cup of wine; the nations around her will drink and stagger like drunks. And when they besiege Jerusalem, the cities of the rest of Judah will also be besieged.

³But when that time comes, I will make Jerusalem like a heavy stone—any nation that tries to lift it will be hurt. All the nations of the world will join forces to attack her.

⁴At that time I will terrify all their horses and make all their riders go crazy. I will watch over the people of Judah, but I will make the horses of their enemies blind.

⁵Then the clans of Judah will say to themselves, ‘The Lord God Almighty gives strength to his people who live in Jerusalem.’

⁶“At that time I will make the clans of Judah like a fire in a forest or in a field of ripe grain—they will destroy all the surrounding nations. The people of Jerusalem will remain safe in the city.

⁷“I, the Lord, will give victory to the armies of Judah first, so that the honor which the descendants of David and the people of Jerusalem will receive will be no greater than that of the rest of Judah.

⁸At that time the Lord will protect those who live in Jerusalem, and even the weakest among them will become as strong as David was. The descendants of David will lead them like the angel of the Lord, like God himself.

⁹At that time I will destroy every nation that tries to attack Jerusalem.

¹⁰“I will fill the descendants of David and the other people of Jerusalem with the spirit of mercy and the spirit of prayer. They will look at the one whom they stabbed to death, and they will mourn for him like those who mourn for an only child. They will mourn bitterly, like those who have lost their first-born son.

¹¹At that time the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

^12-14Each family in the land will mourn by itself: the family descended from David, the family descended from Nathan, the family descended from Levi, the family descended from Shimei, and all the other families. Each family will mourn by itself, and the men of each family will mourn separately from the women.

¹“When that time comes,” says the Lord Almighty, “a fountain will be opened to purify the descendants of David and the people of Jerusalem from their sin and idolatry.

²At that time I will remove the names of the idols from the land, and no one will remember them any more. I will get rid of anyone who claims to be a prophet and will take away the desire to worship idols.

³Then if anyone still insists on prophesying, his own father and mother will tell him that he must be put to death, because he claimed to speak the Lord's word, but spoke lies instead. When he prophesies, his own father and mother will stab him to death.

⁴When that time comes, no prophet will be proud of his visions or act like a prophet or wear a prophet's coarse garment in order to deceive people.

⁵Instead, he will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I am a farmer—I have farmed the land all my life.’

⁶Then if someone asks him, ‘What are those wounds on your chest?’ he will answer, ‘I got them at a friend's house.’”

The Command to Kill God's Shepherd

⁷The Lord Almighty says, “Wake up, sword, and attack the shepherd who works for me! Kill him, and the sheep will be scattered. I will attack my people

⁸and throughout the land two-thirds of the people will die.

⁹And I will test the third that survives and will purify them as silver is purified by fire. I will test them as gold is tested. Then they will pray to me, and I will answer them. I will tell them that they are my people, and they will confess that I am their God.”

²⁰If you curse your parents, your life will end like a lamp that goes out in the dark.

²¹The more easily you get your wealth, the less good it will do you.

²²Don't take it on yourself to repay a wrong. Trust the Lord and he will make it right.