Study Desk

Then the king said to me, "What do you want me to do?" Before I answered, I prayed to the God of heaven.

I also need lumber for the heavy wooden beams for the gates, the walls, the walls around the Temple, and my house. So I need a letter from you to Asaph, who is in charge of your forests." The king gave me the letters and everything I asked for. The king did that because my God was kind to me.

I went to Jerusalem and stayed there three days. Then at night I started out with a few men. I had not said anything to anyone about what my God had put on my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no horses with me except the horse I was riding.

I also told them that my God had been kind to me. I told them what the king had said to me. Then they answered, "Let's start to work, now!" So we began this good work.

But this is what I said to them: "The God of heaven will help us succeed. We are God's servants and we will rebuild this city. You cannot help us in this work because none of your family lived here in Jerusalem. You don't own any of this land, and you have no right to be in this place."

The name of the high priest was Eliashib. He and his brothers, the priests, went to work and built the Sheep Gate. They prayed to make that gate holy to God. They set its doors in place in the wall. The priests worked on the wall of Jerusalem as far as the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel. They prayed to make all this work holy to God.

Nehemiah prayed and said, "Our God, listen to our prayer. These men hate us. Sanballat and Tobiah are insulting us. Make bad things happen to them. Make them ashamed, like people taken away as prisoners.

But we prayed to our God. And we put guards on the walls to watch day and night so that we could be ready to meet them.

Then our enemies heard that we knew about their plans. They knew that God ruined their plans. So we all went back to work on the wall. Everyone went back to their own place and did their part.

So if you hear the trumpet, run to that place. We will all meet together there, and our God will fight for us!"

So I continued speaking. I said, "What you people are doing is not right! You know that you should fear and respect our God. You should not do the shameful things other people do!

Then the rich people and the officials said, "We will give it back and not demand anything more from them. Nehemiah, we will do as you say." Then I called the priests. I made the rich people and the officials promise to God that they would do what they said.

Then I shook out the folds of my clothes. I said, "God will do the same thing to everyone who does not keep their promise. God will shake them out of their houses and they will lose everything they worked for. They will lose everything!" I finished saying these things and all the people agreed. They all said, "Amen" and praised the Lord . So the people did as they had promised.

But the governors who ruled before me made life hard for the people. The governors forced everyone to pay 1 pound of silver. They also made the people give them food and wine. The leaders under these governors also ruled over the people and made life even harder. But I respected and feared God, so I didn't do things like that.

My God, remember all the good I have done for these people.

Our enemies were only trying to make us afraid. They are thinking to themselves, "The Jews will be afraid and too weak to keep on working. Then the wall will not be finished." But I prayed, "God, make me strong."

I knew that God had not sent Shemaiah. I knew that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had paid him to do that.

My God, please remember Tobiah and Sanballat and the bad things they have done. Also remember the woman prophet Noadiah and the other prophets who have been trying to scare me.

Then all our enemies heard that we had completed the wall, and all the nations around us saw that it was finished. So they lost their courage, because they understood that this work had been done with the help of our God.

Next, I put my brother Hanani in charge of Jerusalem. I chose another man named Hananiah to be the commander of the fort. I picked Hanani because he was a very honest man and he feared God more than most people do.