The Daily Audio Bible

Nehemiah prays

1 These are the words of Nehemiah, Hacaliah's son.

It was the month Kislev. This was when King Artaxerxes had ruled for 20 years. I was in the big city of Susa. ² Hanani, my brother, and some other men arrived from Judah. I asked them for news of the Jews who had returned there from exile in Babylon. I asked them for news about Jerusalem. ³ They told me, ‘The Jews who returned to Judah are in much trouble. The walls of the city still have lots of holes in them. Fire has burned the city's gates down to the ground. So the people are very ashamed.’

⁴ After they told me this, I sat down and I wept. I was very sad for many days. I did not eat or drink anything and I prayed to God.

⁵ I prayed, ‘Lord, God of heaven, you are great and powerful.^[a] You always continue to love your people, as you have promised to do. You are kind to those people who love you and obey your commands. ⁶ Please listen to my prayer. I am your servant. I am praying in the day and in the night on behalf of your servants, the Israelites. I agree that we have all done wrong things. That includes me and my family. We have not obeyed you. ⁷ We have done wicked things against you. We have not obeyed the commands, the laws and the rules that you gave to your servant Moses.^[b]

⁸ Remember what you told your servant, Moses. You told him, “If the Israelites turn away from me, I will make them live among foreign people in many different places. ⁹ But if they return to me and they obey my commands, I will be kind to them. I will bring them back together again from all the different places where they are living. Even if they live far away, I will find them. I will bring them to the place that I have chosen to give honour to my name.”

¹⁰ Lord, these are your people and your servants. You used your great power and strength to rescue them. ¹¹ Please listen to my prayer, my Lord. Hear the prayers of your people who love to respect your name. Please cause the king to be kind to me. May he give me what I ask for.’

I was the king's cupbearer.^[c]

Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem

2 It was the month of Nisan, when King Artaxerxes had ruled Babylon for 20 years. I had the king's wine ready for him to drink. I took it to give to him. He saw that I was sad. I had not been sad in front of the king before. ² The king asked me, ‘Why are you sad? You are not ill. This must mean that you are very upset.’ I was very frightened.^[d]

³ I replied to the king, ‘May the king live for ever! I am sad because enemies have destroyed the city where my ancestors are buried. They burned the city's gates.’

⁴ The king asked me, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ So I prayed to our God who rules from heaven.^{[e] 5} Then I said to the king, ‘Please sir, if you think it is a good idea and you are pleased with me, let me go to Judah. If you agree to send me there, I can build again the city where my ancestors are buried.’

⁶ The king was sitting with the queen next to him. The king asked me, ‘How long will you be away? When will you return?’ I told the king how long I would be away. Because the king was happy to send me, I told him when I would leave. ⁷ I said to the king, ‘If the king agrees, please give me some letters to say that I have your authority. I will show the letters to your officers who rule the region on the west side of the Euphrates river. Then I will be able to travel safely on the journey to Judah. ⁸ Also give me a letter for Asaph, who takes care of the king's forest there. Tell him to give me wood from the trees. I need to make beams to mend the gates of the strong place near the temple. I also need to mend the city's wall. And I need to build a house for myself to live in.’

The king agreed to do what I asked him, because my God was with me.

⁹ The king sent officers of his army to keep me safe on the journey. He also sent soldiers who rode on horses. I went to the king's officers on the west side of the Euphrates river. I gave them the letters which the king had written. ¹⁰ But two important men were not happy when they heard that I had come to help the Israelite people. They were Sanballat, who came from Horon, and Tobiah, an Ammonite officer.^[f]

Nehemiah looks at Jerusalem's walls

¹¹ I arrived in Jerusalem city. After three days, ¹² I went out at night. I took a few of my friends with me. I was riding on a donkey. That was the only animal that we took with us. I did not tell anyone the idea that God had put in my mind about Jerusalem. ¹³ I went through the Valley Gate to the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate.^[g] As I went, I looked carefully at Jerusalem's walls. They were broken. Fire had destroyed the city's gates.

¹⁴ I went to the Fountain Gate and then to the King's Pool. The path there was too narrow for my donkey to pass through. ¹⁵ So I went along the path in the valley while it was still night. I continued to look at the wall. I reached the Valley Gate again and I went back into the city. ¹⁶ The city's officers did not know that I had done this. I had not told anyone what I had decided to do. I had not told any of the other Jews, their priests, their leaders or the city's officers. I had not told any of the people who would help to do the work on the wall.

¹⁷ But then I said to them, ‘We have a big problem. Jerusalem has become a heap of stones. Fire has burned the gates. You must help to build the city's walls again. Then we will no longer be ashamed of our city.’

¹⁸ I told the people how God had helped me to come to Jerusalem. I told them what the king had said to me. Then the people said, ‘We will start to build now!’

The people prepared to start this good work. ¹⁹ But Sanballat, Tobiah and an Arab man called Geshem heard about what we were doing. They laughed at us and they insulted us. They said, ‘What are you trying to do? Have you turned against the king's authority?’^[h]

²⁰ I replied to them, ‘Our God who rules from heaven will help us. We are his servants and we will start to build. But you have never been true citizens of Jerusalem.’

The people who built Jerusalem's walls

3 The leader of the priests, Eliashib, and the other priests built the Sheep Gate. They fixed the doors in it again. They built the wall as far as the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel. They dedicated it all to God.^[i]

² The men from Jericho built the next part of the city wall. Imri's son, Zakkur, built the next part of the wall.

³ The clan of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate. They put up the beams and they fixed its doors in their place. They made wooden bars and iron bars so that they could lock the doors.

⁴ Meremoth, son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, worked on the next part of the wall. Meshullam, son of Berekiah, the son of Meshezabel, repaired the wall next to Meremoth. Baana's son, Zadok, repaired the next part of the wall. ⁵ The men from Tekoa repaired the next part. But their town's leaders refused to do the hard work.

⁶ Paseah's son, Joiada, and Besodeiah's son, Meshullam, worked on the Old Gate. They put up the beams and they fixed its doors in their place. They made wooden bars and iron bars so that they could lock the doors.

⁷ Men from Gibeon and Mizpah repaired the wall next to the Old Gate. They included Melatiah from Gibeon and Jadon, who came from Meronoth. The officer who ruled the region on the west side of the Euphrates river had authority over those towns.

⁸ Harhaiah's son, Uzziel, repaired the next part of the wall. Uzziel was a man who made things from gold. Hananiah repaired the wall next to Uzziel. Hananiah knew how to make perfume. Hananiah and Uzziel repaired the wall as far as the Broad Wall. ⁹ Hur's son, Rephaiah, repaired the next part of the wall. Rephaiah ruled over part of Jerusalem.^[j]

¹⁰ Harumaph's son, Jedaiah, worked on the next part of the wall that was near to his own house. Hashabneiah's son, Hattush, repaired the wall next to Jedaiah. ¹¹ Harim's son, Malkijah, and Pahath-Moab's son, Hasshub, worked on another part of the wall. They also repaired the Tower of the Ovens. ¹² Hallohesh's son, Shallum, repaired the next part of the wall. He ruled over part of Jerusalem. Shallum's daughters helped him with the work.

¹³ Hanun and the people who lived in Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate. They built it and they fixed its doors in their place. They made wooden bars and iron bars so that they could lock the doors. The same people also repaired 450 metres of the city wall, as far as the Dung Gate.

¹⁴ Recab's son, Malkijah, repaired the Dung Gate. He put the doors in their place, as well as their wooden bars and iron bars. Malkijah had authority over the region of Beth Hakkerem.

Questions about marriage

7 You wrote to ask me about certain things. You say, ‘It is a good thing when a man does not marry.’ ² That may be true, but then people may have sex in wrong ways. So every man should have his own wife and every woman should have her own husband. ³ Then they may have sex with each other in the right way. A husband should agree to have sex with his wife. And the wife should do the same thing for her husband. ⁴ The wife does not rule over her own body to decide when to have sex. She belongs to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not rule over his own body. He belongs to his wife.

⁵ Do not refuse to have sex with each other, unless both of you agree to stop for a short time. Then you can use more time to pray. But you should come together again soon, as husband and wife. If not, Satan may try to make you do something wrong. You may want too strongly to have sex with someone else. ⁶ I am saying these things to help you. I am not telling you what you must do. ⁷ It would be good if all of you could live in the way that I do. But each person has his own gift from God. God helps one person to live in a certain way. God helps another person with a different gift.

⁸ I will say this to those of you who have not married yet, and to those who are widows. It is better for you to remain alone. That is how I myself live. ⁹ But if you want to have sex too strongly, then you should marry. It is better to do that than to want to have sex all the time.

¹⁰ I will say this to people who have married. (This is not my rule. It is a rule that comes from the Lord himself.) A wife must not leave her husband. ¹¹ But if she does leave him, she must not marry another man. Or she should go back to live with her husband. In the same way, a husband must not send his wife away.

¹² To all you other people, I say this. (This is what I think. The Lord has not spoken about it.) A Christian man may have a wife who does not believe in Christ. If she agrees to continue living with him, then he should not send her away. ¹³ Also, a Christian woman may have a husband who does not believe in Christ. If he agrees to continue living with her, then she should not leave him. ¹⁴ God accepts a husband who does not believe in Christ because of his Christian wife. And God accepts a wife who does not believe in Christ because of her Christian husband. If that was not true, the children would not belong to God. But God does accept them, because to him they are now clean.

¹⁵ But the husband or wife who does not believe in Christ may want to leave. If they want to become separate, let them do that. If that happens, the Christian man or woman is now free. God wants you to live in peace. ¹⁶ If you are a Christian wife, you might save your husband. If you are a Christian husband, you might save your wife. But you can not be sure of what will happen.

¹⁷ But each of you should continue to live in the way that God has chosen for you. Remain as you were at the time when God called you to come to him. I teach that rule to people in all the churches. ¹⁸ Some of you are Jews, so people circumcised you. That happened before you believed in Christ. So do not try to change it. Some of you are not Jews. Nobody circumcised you. So continue like that. Do not ask anyone to circumcise you. ¹⁹ It is not important whether someone has circumcised you or not. The important thing is this: Obey what God says.

²⁰ Each of you should continue as you were when God called you to come to him. ²¹ You may have been a slave when God called you. That does not matter. But if you have the chance to become a free person, accept it. ²² The Lord may call a slave to come to him. Then, that slave has become free, because he belongs to the Lord. In the same way, when God calls a free person to belong to Christ, he becomes Christ's slave. ²³ God bought you for himself. He paid the price for you. So do not let anyone else make you their slave. ²⁴ My Christian friends, each of you should continue as you were when God first called you to come to him.^[a] Remember that you serve God.