Nehemiah 1:1

Nehemiah Prays for His People

1 The words of ^aNehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the ^btwentieth year, as I was in ^cShushan the citadel,

2 that ^aHanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

3 And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the ^aprovince are there in great distress and ^breproach. ^cThe wall of Jerusalem ^dis also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”

4 So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

5 And I said: “I pray, ^aLord God of heaven, O great and ^bawesome God, ^cYou who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love¹ You and observe Your commandments,

6 please let Your ear be attentive and ^aYour eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and ^bconfess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned.

7 ^aWe have acted very corruptly against You, and have ^bnot kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.

8 Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ^a‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations;

9 ^abut if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, ^bthough some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’

10 ^aNow these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand.

11 O Lord, I pray, please ^alet Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who ^bdesire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” For I was the king’s ^ccupbearer.

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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Nehemiah 1:1

The words of Nehemiah - That this book was compiled out of the journal or memoranda made by Nehemiah himself, there can be no doubt: but that he was not the compiler is evident from several passages in the work it. self. As it is written consecutively as one book with Ezra, many have supposed that this latter was the author: but whoever compares the style of each, in the Hebrew, will soon be convinced that this is not correct; the style is so very different, that they could not possibly be the work of the same person.

It is doubtful even whether the Nehemiah who is mentioned Ezra 2:2, who came to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel, be the same with him who is the reputed author of this book. By the computation of the best chronologists, Zerubbabel came to Jerusalem in A. M. 3468; and Nehemiah, who is here mentioned, did not come before the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, which falls in with A. M. 3558, ninety years after: and as his account here is carried down to A. M. 3570, nearly twenty years later, he must at his death have been about a hundred and thirty, allowing him to have been only twenty years old at the time that Zerubbabel went up to Jerusalem. This is by no means likely, as this would make him the king' s cupbearer when he was upwards of a hundred years of age! It seems, therefore, evident that the Nehemiah of Ezra cannot be the same with the reputed author of this book, and the cup-bearer of the Persian king.

Son of Hachaliah - Of what tribe or lineage he was, we cannot tell: this is all we know of his parentage. Some suppose he was a priest, and of the house of Aaron, on the authority of 2 Maccabees 1:18, 21; but this is but slender evidence. It is likely he was of a very eminent family, if not of the blood royal of Judah, as only persons of eminence could be placed in the office which he sustained in the Persian court.

The month Chisleu - Answering to a part of our November and December.

Twentieth year - That is, of Artaxerxes, A. M. 3558, b.c. 446.

Shushan the palace - The ancient city of Susa; called in Persian Shuster : the winter residence of the Persian kings.

Other Adam Clarke entries containing Nehemiah 1:1:

Nehemiah 12:1

<< Ezra 10:44

Nehemiah 1:2 >>

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Nehemiah Prays for His People

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