The Prayer of Nehemiah

¹The words of Nehemiah the son of Hakaliah.[#Ne 10:1]

In the month Kislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the palace,

²Hanani, one of my relatives, and some men of Judah arrived. So I asked them concerning the returning Jews who had been in captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.[#Ne 7:2]

³They said to me, “The remnant that returned from captivity is there in the province enduring great affliction and reproach. Also, the wall of Jerusalem remains broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”[#2Ki 25:10; Ne 2:3, 17]

⁴When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days. Then I fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,[#Ezr 10:1; Ne 2:4]

⁵and said:

For I was the king’s cupbearer.