Nehemiah 1
Nehemiah, a servant of the king, learns from his brother Hanani that the Jews who remained in Jerusalem after the captivity are in great affliction and the city's wall has been broken apart. Upon hearing this, Nehemiah weeps, fasts, and prays to God, confessing the sins of the Israelites, including his own, and asking for mercy and forgiveness. He reminds God of the promise made to Moses that if the Israelites return to God and keep His precepts, He will gather them from wherever they have been dispersed. Nehemiah asks God to hear his prayer and grant him mercy before the king, as he is the king's cupbearer.
1The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah. And it happened that, in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, I was in the capital city of Susa2And Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived, he and some men of Judah. And I questioned them about the Jews who had remained and were left behind from the captivity, and about Jerusalem3And they said to me: "Those who have remained and have been left behind from the captivity, there in the province, are in great affliction and in disgrace. And the wall of Jerusalem has been broken apart, and its gates have been burned with fire.4And when I had heard this manner of words, I sat down, and I wept and mourned for many days. I fasted and prayed before the face of the God of heaven5And I said: "I beg you, O Lord, God of heaven, strong, great, and terrible, who keeps covenant and mercy with those who love you and who keep your commandments6may your ears be attentive, and may your eyes be open, so that you may hear the prayer of your servant, which I am praying before you today, night and day, for the sons of Israel, your servants. And I am confessing the sins of the sons of Israel, which they have sinned against you. We have sinned, I and my father’s house7We have been seduced by vanity. And we have not kept your commandments and ceremonies and judgments, which you have instructed to your servant Moses8Remember the word which you commanded to your servant Moses, saying: ‘When you will have transgressed, I will disperse you among the nations9But if you will return to me, and keep my precepts, and do them, even if you will have been led away to the furthest reaches of the heavens, I will gather you from there, and I will lead you back to the place that I have chosen so that my name would dwell there.10And these same are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great strength and by your powerful hand11I beg you, O Lord, may your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who are willing to fear your name. And so, guide your servant today, and grant to him mercy before this man." For I was the cupbearer of the king
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