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Summary

Nehemiah 1:1–3 – News from Jerusalem

What happens: Nehemiah serves in Susa when his brother Hanani arrives with men from Judah. They report that Jerusalem’s remnant suffers great trouble, and its wall lies broken with gates burned. The city is exposed and shamed before enemies.

What it means: Broken walls show deep vulnerability and dishonor for God’s people. The report exposes the cost of sin and exile, and it awakens responsibility in Nehemiah. God uses honest news to stir holy concern. Faith faces reality and seeks God for help.

Nehemiah 1:4–11 – Nehemiah’s fasting and prayer

What happens: Nehemiah weeps, fasts, and prays for days. He praises God’s covenant love, confesses Israel’s sins, and includes himself in the guilt. He recalls God’s promise to gather the repentant and asks for favor with the king.

What it means: True leadership begins in grief over sin and hope in God’s covenant. Confession clears the way for renewal because God is faithful and merciful. Nehemiah depends on God before he acts, showing that prayer is the first work. God’s promises fuel bold requests.

Application

  • Mourn over spiritual ruin and bring it to God in prayer.
  • Confess sin personally and corporately, trusting God’s covenant mercy.
  • Ask boldly for favor to do the work God puts on your heart.

Bible

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,

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.

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.

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,

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:

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

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

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.

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

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.

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