Rebuilding Jerusalem's walls and re-forming its community.
Nehemiah, an official at the Persian court, obtains permission to return to Jerusalem, organizes the rapid rebuilding of the city walls against opposition, and works with Ezra to renew communal life around the law.
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ReadA cupbearer to the king organizes the repair of Jerusalem's defenses.
Learn MoreNehemiah confronts debt, food shortages, and unfair lending.
Learn MoreA public reading of the law and pledges about Sabbath, marriage, and temple support.
Learn MoreNehemiah hears that Jerusalem's wall is broken down, secures leave and letters from the Persian king, and inspects the ruins at night. He assigns families to sections of the wall and, despite ridicule, threats, and plots from regional leaders such as Sanballat and Tobiah, the work is finished in fifty-two days.
The book records internal problems as serious as the external ones: poorer residents mortgaging fields and children to buy grain during a shortage. Nehemiah presses officials and creditors to cancel debts and return property, and describes governing without taking the food allowance usually owed to his position.
Ezra reads the law aloud to the assembled people, who respond with a festival and a written agreement covering intermarriage, Sabbath trade, and financial support for the temple. Nehemiah's memoir closes with a return visit in which he enforces these commitments again, showing how fragile the reforms were.