📖 The Book of Nehemiah
Start reading →Old Testament · 13 chapters · History
Rebuilding the walls and renewing the covenant community.
Who wrote Nehemiah?
Author
Nehemiah
Written
c. 430 BC
Genre
History
First-person memoir of the Persian-era cup-bearer-turned-governor.
Why Nehemiah was written
To record Nehemiah's leadership in rebuilding Jerusalem's walls and reforming the community, showing that God's work advances through prayer, courageous action, and obedience to his word.
Outline of Nehemiah
- 11–7: The wall rebuilt in 52 days against opposition
- 28–10: Ezra reads the law; public confession and covenant renewal
- 311–13: The resettlement of Jerusalem; Nehemiah's final reforms
Key verses
Nehemiah 1:4Nehemiah 4:9Nehemiah 6:15Nehemiah 8:8
How Nehemiah points to Christ
Nehemiah's burden for a broken city and his intercession on behalf of his people mirrors Christ's lament over Jerusalem and his ongoing intercession for his church. The reading and explaining of the law in ch. 8 foreshadows Christ opening the Scriptures.
How Nehemiah begins
1The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,
Read Nehemiah 1 →