Nehemiah 1:1

A Prayer of Nehemiah

1:1 ¹ These are the words of Nehemiah ²  son of Hacaliah:

It so happened that in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year, ³  I was in Susa ⁴  the citadel.

Nehemiah 1:4

1:4 When I heard these things I sat down abruptly, ⁵  crying and mourning for several days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Nehemiah 4:15

4:15 It so happened that when our adversaries heard that we were aware of these matters, ⁶  God frustrated their intentions. Then all of us returned to the wall, each to his own work.

Nehemiah 6:12

6:12 I recognized the fact that God had not sent him, for he had spoken the prophecy against me as a hired agent of Tobiah and Sanballat. ⁷ 

Nehemiah 9:12

9:12 You guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night to illumine for them the path they were to travel.

Nehemiah 9:18

9:18 even when they made a cast image of a calf for themselves and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up from Egypt,’ or when they committed atrocious ⁸  blasphemies.

Nehemiah 10:32

10:32 We accept responsibility for fulfilling ⁹  the commands to give ¹⁰  one third of a shekel each year for the work of the temple ¹¹  of our God,

Nehemiah 13:14

13:14 Please remember me for this, O my God, and do not wipe out the kindness that I have done for the temple of my God and for its services!

[1:1]  ¹ sn In ancient Judaism Ezra and Nehemiah were regarded as a single book with dual authorship. According to the Talmud, “Ezra wrote his book” (b. Bava Batra 15a). The Gemara then asks and answers, “And who finished it? Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.” Accordingly, the two are joined in the Leningrad Codex (ca. A.D. 1008), the manuscript upon which modern printed editions of the Hebrew Bible (e.g., BHK and BHS) are based.

[1:1]  ² sn The name Nehemiah in Hebrew (נְחֶמְיָה, nÿkhemyah) means “the LORD comforts.”

[1:1]  ³ tn That is, the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign (cf. 2:1).

[1:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “Shushan.”

[1:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “sat down.” Context suggests that this was a rather sudden action, resulting from the emotional shock of the unpleasant news, so “abruptly” has been supplied in the present translation.

[4:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “it was known to us.”

[6:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.”

[9:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “great.”

[10:32]  ²¹ tn Heb “cause to stand on us.”

[10:32]  ²² tc The MT reads “to give upon us.” However, the term עָלֵינוּ (’alenu, “upon us”) should probably be deleted, following a few medieval Hebrew MSS, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate.

[10:32]  ²³ tn Heb “house” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39).