Nehemiah 1:4-11

Nehemiah's Prayer

4 As soon as I heard these words I ¹sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the ²God of heaven.

5 And I said, "O LORD God of heaven, ³the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

6 ⁴let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, ⁵confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even ⁶I and my father's house have sinned.

7 ⁷We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules ⁸that you commanded your servant Moses.

8 Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, ⁹I will scatter you among the peoples,

9 ¹⁰but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, ¹¹though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them ¹²to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.'

10 ¹³They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.

11 O Lord, ¹⁴let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man."Now I was ¹⁵cupbearer to the king.

Nehemiah 1:4-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH

This book is, by the authors of the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions, called the "Second" Book of Ezra, it being a continuation of the same history, and was by the Jews reckoned as one book with Ezra; Kimchi on Isa 9:7, calls it Ezra, so the Talmud {a}; and it has been quoted by Christian writers under his name; see the argument of the book of Ezra; but not as if it was written by him; for it is a clear case it was written by Nehemiah, whose name it bears, as appears from Ne 1:1 and throughout Nehemiah speaks of himself under the first person; and the style also is very different from that of Ezra, being plainer and easier than his. It has always had a place in the canon of Scriptures, both with Jews and Christians; and is of use to show the fulfilment of the prophecy of Zechariah, and especially of Daniel concerning the building of the wall of Jerusalem in troublesome times; to carry on the history of the Jews, and describe the state of the church in those times, what opposition was made to it, and what enemies it had, and what must be expected when any work of God is set about; it is the last of the historical books that was written, as is thought, and contains an history of the space of about twelve years, from the twentieth of Artaxerxes to the thirty second of his reign, see \Ne 1:1 2:1 13:6\.

{a} T. Bab. Succah, fol. 37. 1. & Gloss. in ib. fol. 12. 1.

\\INTRODUCTION NEHEMIAH 1\\

This chapter relates how that Nehemiah, being at Shushan in Persia, and meeting with some Jews, inquired of the state of Jerusalem, of which having a melancholy account, he betook to mourning, fasting, and prayer, Ne 1:1-4, and his prayer is recorded, Ne 1:5-11.

Cross References

• 1. [Ezra 9:3]
• 2. Nehemiah 2:4
• 3. Nehemiah 9:32; Daniel 9:4; [Deuteronomy 7:21]
• 4. Daniel 9:18; [1 Kings 8:29; 2 Chronicles 6:40]
• 5. Ezra 10:1; Daniel 9:20
• 6. [Psalms 106:6]
• 7. Daniel 9:5
• 8. Deuteronomy 28:15
• 9. Leviticus 26:33; Deuteronomy 28:64; See Deuteronomy 4:25-27
• 10. Leviticus 26:39-42; Deuteronomy 4:29-31; Deuteronomy 30:2, 3
• 11. Deuteronomy 30:4
• 12. Deuteronomy 12:5
• 13. Deuteronomy 9:29
• 14. [See ver. 6 above]
• 15. [Nehemiah 2:1]