Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Nehemiah » Prayerfulness
I said: O Jehovah (YHWH), the God of heaven, the great God, greatly to be respected, keeping faith and mercy with those who have love for him and are true to his laws: Let your ear now take note and let your eyes be open. Please give ear to the prayer of your servant. At this time, day and night I pray for the children of Israel, your servants. I put before you the sins of the children of Israel that we have done against you: truly, my father's people and I are sinners. We have done great wrong against you. We have not obeyed the orders, the rules, and the decisions, which you gave to your servant Moses. read more.
Keep in mind, O Jehovah, the order you gave your servant Moses, saying: 'If you do wrong I will send you wandering among the peoples: If you come back to me and obey my orders, even if you have been forced out and are living in the farthest horizons, I will gather you from there, and bring you to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my name.' These are your servants and your people, whom you have made yours by your great power and by your strong hand. O Jehovah, let your ear take note of the prayer of your servant. Of the prayers of all your servants, who take delight in worshipping your name: give help, O Jehovah, to your servant this day, and let him have mercy in the eyes of this man. Now I was the king's wine-servant.
Keep in mind, O Jehovah, the order you gave your servant Moses, saying: 'If you do wrong I will send you wandering among the peoples: If you come back to me and obey my orders, even if you have been forced out and are living in the farthest horizons, I will gather you from there, and bring you to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my name.' These are your servants and your people, whom you have made yours by your great power and by your strong hand. O Jehovah, let your ear take note of the prayer of your servant. Of the prayers of all your servants, who take delight in worshipping your name: give help, O Jehovah, to your servant this day, and let him have mercy in the eyes of this man. Now I was the king's wine-servant.
Give ear, O our God, for we are ridiculed. Let their words of shame be turned back upon them, and let them be given up to plunder in a land where they are prisoners. Do not let their wrongdoing be covered or their sin be washed away from before you: for they have made you angry before the builders.
We prayed to God and stationed men on watch against them day and night.
Religious zeal » Instances of » Nehemiah
Do not let their wrongdoing be covered or their sin be washed away from before you: for they have made you angry before the builders.
I went to Jerusalem. It was clear to me what evil Eliashib had done for Tobiah by making ready for him a room in the buildings of the house of God. It was evil in my eyes so I had all Tobiah's things removed from the room. Then I gave orders, and they made the rooms clean. I put the vessels of the House of God, along with the meal offerings and the perfume, back in the rooms.
In those days, I saw in Judah some who were crushing grapes on the Sabbath, and harvesting grain and putting it on Asses; as well as wine and grapes and figs and all sorts of goods that they took into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. I gave witness against them on the day when they were marketing food. There were men of Tyre there. They came with fish and all sorts of goods, trading with the children of Judah and in Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Then I made protests to the chiefs of Judah, and said to them: What is this evil you are doing, not keeping the Sabbath day holy? read more.
Did not your fathers do the same, and did not our God send all this evil on us and on this town? You are causing more anger to come on Israel by not keeping the Sabbath holy. When the streets of Jerusalem were getting dark before the Sabbath, I gave orders for the gate to be shut and not to be open again until after the Sabbath. I put some of my servants by the gate so that nothing might be taken in on the Sabbath day. So the traders in all sorts of goods took their night's rest outside Jerusalem once or twice. Then I gave witness against them and said: Why are you waiting all night by the wall? If you do so again I will have you taken prisoners. From that time they did not come again on the Sabbath. I gave the Levites orders to make themselves clean and come and keep the gates and make the Sabbath holy. Keep this in mind to my credit, O my God, and have mercy on me, for great is your mercy. I saw the Jews who were married to women of Ashdod and Ammon and Moab: Their children were talking half in the language of Ashdod; they had no knowledge of the Jews' language, but made use of the language of the two peoples. I took up the cause against them, cursing them and giving blows to some of them and pulling out their hair. I made them take an oath by God, saying: You are not to give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. Was it not in these things that Solomon, king of Israel, did wrong? Among a number of nations there was no king like him. He was dear to his God, and God made him king over all Israel. But even he was made to do evil by strange women. Are we then without protest to let you do all this great evil, sinning against our God by taking strange women for your wives? One of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib, the chief priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite, so I sent him away from me.
Did not your fathers do the same, and did not our God send all this evil on us and on this town? You are causing more anger to come on Israel by not keeping the Sabbath holy. When the streets of Jerusalem were getting dark before the Sabbath, I gave orders for the gate to be shut and not to be open again until after the Sabbath. I put some of my servants by the gate so that nothing might be taken in on the Sabbath day. So the traders in all sorts of goods took their night's rest outside Jerusalem once or twice. Then I gave witness against them and said: Why are you waiting all night by the wall? If you do so again I will have you taken prisoners. From that time they did not come again on the Sabbath. I gave the Levites orders to make themselves clean and come and keep the gates and make the Sabbath holy. Keep this in mind to my credit, O my God, and have mercy on me, for great is your mercy. I saw the Jews who were married to women of Ashdod and Ammon and Moab: Their children were talking half in the language of Ashdod; they had no knowledge of the Jews' language, but made use of the language of the two peoples. I took up the cause against them, cursing them and giving blows to some of them and pulling out their hair. I made them take an oath by God, saying: You are not to give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. Was it not in these things that Solomon, king of Israel, did wrong? Among a number of nations there was no king like him. He was dear to his God, and God made him king over all Israel. But even he was made to do evil by strange women. Are we then without protest to let you do all this great evil, sinning against our God by taking strange women for your wives? One of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib, the chief priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite, so I sent him away from me.
modern Samaria » Inhabitants of » Opposed the jews after their return from captivity
Now, Sanballat, hearing that we were building the wall, was very angry, and in his wrath made sport of the Jews. And in the hearing of his countrymen and the army of Samaria he said: What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they make themselves strong? Will they make offerings? Will they get the work done in a day? Will they make the stones that have been burned come again out of the dust? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was with him, and he said: Such is their building that if a fox climbs to the top of it, their stonewall will be broken down. read more.
Give ear, O our God, for we are ridiculed. Let their words of shame be turned back upon them, and let them be given up to plunder in a land where they are prisoners. Do not let their wrongdoing be covered or their sin be washed away from before you: for they have made you angry before the builders. So we went on building the wall. The entire wall was joined together halfway up. The people were working hard. When the Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites, heard that the building of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and the broken places were being made good, they were very angry. All of them conspired to come and launch an attack on Jerusalem, causing trouble there. We prayed to God and stationed men on watch against them day and night. Judah said: The strength of the workmen is giving way. There is a lot of rubbish so it is impossible for us to put up the wall. And our adversaries kept saying: They will not know and they will not see until we come right in among them and put them to death. We will cause the work to cease. When the Jews who were living near them came, they said to us ten times: From all directions they are coming against us. So in the lowest part of the space at the back of the walls, in the open places, I put the people by families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And after looking, I got up and said to the great ones and to the chiefs and to the rest of the people, Have no fear of them. Keep in mind Jehovah who is great and greatly to be feared. Take up arms for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters, your wives and your houses. When our enemies heard that we had knowledge of their designs and that God had made their purpose come to nothing, we all went back to the wall, everyone to his work. From that time, half of my servants were doing their part of the work, and half kept the spears and body-covers and the bows and the metal wardresses. The leaders were in back of the men of Judah. Those who were building the wall and those who were moving material did their part. Everyone worked with one hand and with his spear in the other. Every builder was working with his sword at his side. By my side was a man for sounding the warning horn.
Give ear, O our God, for we are ridiculed. Let their words of shame be turned back upon them, and let them be given up to plunder in a land where they are prisoners. Do not let their wrongdoing be covered or their sin be washed away from before you: for they have made you angry before the builders. So we went on building the wall. The entire wall was joined together halfway up. The people were working hard. When the Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites, heard that the building of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and the broken places were being made good, they were very angry. All of them conspired to come and launch an attack on Jerusalem, causing trouble there. We prayed to God and stationed men on watch against them day and night. Judah said: The strength of the workmen is giving way. There is a lot of rubbish so it is impossible for us to put up the wall. And our adversaries kept saying: They will not know and they will not see until we come right in among them and put them to death. We will cause the work to cease. When the Jews who were living near them came, they said to us ten times: From all directions they are coming against us. So in the lowest part of the space at the back of the walls, in the open places, I put the people by families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And after looking, I got up and said to the great ones and to the chiefs and to the rest of the people, Have no fear of them. Keep in mind Jehovah who is great and greatly to be feared. Take up arms for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters, your wives and your houses. When our enemies heard that we had knowledge of their designs and that God had made their purpose come to nothing, we all went back to the wall, everyone to his work. From that time, half of my servants were doing their part of the work, and half kept the spears and body-covers and the bows and the metal wardresses. The leaders were in back of the men of Judah. Those who were building the wall and those who were moving material did their part. Everyone worked with one hand and with his spear in the other. Every builder was working with his sword at his side. By my side was a man for sounding the warning horn.