A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Nehemiah 1
Nehemiah 1 is the opening chapter of the sixteenth book of the Bible. The 11-verse chapter sets up the situation that will drive the entire book: Nehemiah, a Jewish official in the Persian court, learns that Jerusalem's walls are in ruins and decides to do something about it.
The chapter opens in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year of the Persian king Artaxerxes, which works out to around 445 BC. Nehemiah is at the royal citadel in Susa. One of his brothers, Hanani, arrives from Judah with some other men, and Nehemiah asks them how the Jewish remnant in Jerusalem is doing.
The report is bad. The survivors are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been burned. The city has no defenses.
Nehemiah is shattered by the news. He sits down and weeps for days, fasting and praying. The rest of the chapter is his prayer.
The prayer confesses the sins of Israel that led to the exile, recalls God's promise that if the people return to him he will bring them back to the land, and asks for success when Nehemiah approaches the king. The chapter closes with a note that Nehemiah was cupbearer to the king.
Verse 1. 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,
Verse 2. 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.
Verse 3. 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 have been burned with fire.”
Verse 4. When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
Verse 5. 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,
Verse 6. 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. I confess the sins that we Israelites have committed against You. Both I and my father’s house have sinned.
Verse 7. We have behaved corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that You gave Your servant Moses.
Verse 8. 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,
Verse 9. 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.’
Verse 10. They are Your servants and Your people. You redeemed them by Your great power and mighty hand.
Verse 11. 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.)
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