Nehemiah

These are the words of Nehemiah son of Hachaliah. In the month of Chisleu, in the twentieth year, I was in the fortress city of Shushan.

1The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,

NoteChisleu (Kislev) was the ninth month of the Hebrew calendar, falling in November–December. "The twentieth year" counts the reign of the Persian king Artaxerxes I, named later in the book (about 445 BC); the writer assumes the reader knows whose reign is meant. Shushan (Susa), in what is now south-western Iran, was one of the Persian kings' capitals, used mainly in winter; the word behind "fortress city" refers to the fortified citadel within it, not the whole town.

2Hanani, one of my own relatives, arrived with some men from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had survived and were left over from the exile, and I asked about Jerusalem.

2That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

Note"One of my brethren" can mean a blood brother or, more loosely, a fellow Judean; Nehemiah 7:2 calls Hanani "my brother" again. "The captivity" (the exile) refers to the deportations of Judeans to Babylon roughly 140 years earlier, after Jerusalem fell in 586 BC. Persia had since allowed groups to return, so Nehemiah is asking about the returned survivors, not about prisoners still held abroad.

3They told me, "The people who survived the exile are there in the province, and they are in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire."

3And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

Note"The province" is Judah as an administrative district of the Persian empire, governed from a distance, no longer an independent kingdom. A city without walls or gates had no defense against raiders and no standing in the ancient world; the state of the wall is therefore a report about the community's safety and public standing, which is what "affliction and reproach" (trouble and disgrace) refer to.

4When I heard this, I sat down and cried. For several days I mourned, went without food, and prayed to the God of heaven.

4And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

NoteGoing without food, weeping and mourning for a set period were recognized public actions in this culture, roughly the way a funeral or a day of national mourning is recognized now, the outward form that grief and formal petition took.

5I said, "Please listen, LORD, God of heaven. You are the great and awesome God. You keep your agreement and show faithful love to those who love you and obey your commands.

5And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:

NoteWhere the King James prints LORD in capitals, the Hebrew has the personal name of Israel's God, traditionally not spoken aloud and read instead as "the Lord." "Terrible" in 1611 English meant awe-inspiring or fearsome, not bad in quality. "Covenant" is a binding, formally sworn agreement between two parties, like a treaty; the word joined with it here ("mercy," Hebrew *hesed*) means steady, loyal commitment of the kind owed inside such an agreement, rather than pity.

6Please pay attention and look at me, so that you will hear the prayer I am praying to you now, day and night, for your servants the people of Israel. I admit the sins we Israelites have committed against you. I myself and my father's family have sinned too.

6Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned.

7We have acted very wrongly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, rules, and laws you gave your servant Moses.

7We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

Note"Commandments, statutes, and judgments" are three standard Hebrew terms for different kinds of material in the law of Moses, direct commands, fixed decrees, and legal rulings or case decisions. Listing all three is a way of saying "the whole law," not naming three separate codes.

8Please remember what you told your servant Moses: 'If you break faith with me, I will scatter you among the nations.

8Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:

NoteNehemiah is quoting from memory, not word for word, from the warnings and promises attached to the law in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 4 and 30: disobedience would scatter the people among foreign nations, and returning would bring them home.

9But if you come back to me and obey my commands and do them, then even if your exiled people have been driven to the farthest edge of the world, I will gather them from there. I will bring them to the place I have chosen as the home for my name.'

9But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

Note"The place I have chosen to set my name there" is the standard phrase in Deuteronomy for the single sanctuary site, understood as Jerusalem and its temple. Putting a name on a place marked ownership and presence, as a king's name on a city did.

10These people are your servants and your people. You set them free by your great power and your strong hand.

10Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.

Note"Redeemed" translates a word for buying a person out of slavery or debt, or a relative paying to free one of his own. "Great power and strong hand" is fixed language for God's rescue of Israel from Egypt, so the sentence recalls that event as the basis of the request.

11Lord, please listen to my prayer and to the prayers of your other servants, who are glad to honor your name. Give me success today, and make this man show me kindness." At that time I was the king's cupbearer.

11O LORD, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer.

Note"This man" is the Persian king, referred to obliquely. A cupbearer tasted and served the king's wine, guarding against poison; it was a high position of trust, giving daily private access to the ruler, which is why Nehemiah mentions it here, as it is what makes his request possible.