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Neemias 1

ARC · Chapter 1/13

1As palavras de Nehemias, filho d'Hacalias. E succedeu no mez de chisleu, no anno vigesimo, estando eu em Susan, a fortaleza,

2Que veiu Hanani, um de meus irmãos, elle e alguns de Judah; e perguntei-lhes pelos judeos que escaparam, e que restaram do captiveiro, e ácerca de Jerusalem.

3E disseram-me: Os restantes, que restaram do captiveiro, lá na provincia estão em grande miseria e desprezo: e o muro de Jerusalem fendido, e as suas portas queimadas a fogo.

4E succedeu que, ouvindo eu estas palavras, assentei-me e chorei, e lamentei por alguns dias: e estive jejuando e orando perante o Deus dos céus.

5E disse: Ah Senhor, Deus dos céus, Deus grande e terrivel! que guarda o concerto e a benignidade para com aquelles que o amam e guardam os seus mandamentos;

6Estejam pois attentos os teus ouvidos, e os teus olhos abertos, para ouvires a oração do teu servo, que eu hoje oro perante ti, de dia e de noite, pelos filhos d'Israel, teus servos: e faço confissão pelos peccados dos filhos d'Israel, que peccámos contra ti; tambem eu e a casa de meu pae peccámos.

7De todo nos corrompemos contra ti, e não guardámos os mandamentos, nem os estatutos, nem os juizos, que ordenaste a Moysés teu servo.

8Lembra-te pois da palavra que ordenaste a Moysés, teu servo, dizendo: Vós transgredireis, e eu vos espalharei entre os povos.

9E vós vos convertereis a mim, e guardareis os meus mandamentos, e os fareis: então, ainda que os vossos rejeitados estiverem no cabo do céu, de lá os ajuntarei e os trarei ao logar que tenho escolhido para ali fazer habitar o meu nome.

10Ainda são teus servos e o teu povo que resgataste com a tua grande força e com a tua forte mão.

11Ah, Senhor, estejam pois attentos os teus ouvidos á oração do teu servo, e á oração dos teus servos que desejam temer o teu nome; e faze prosperar hoje o teu servo, e dá-lhe graça perante este homem. Então era eu copeiro do rei.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Nehemiah, cupbearer to the Persian king in Susa, receives word that the walls of Jerusalem are still broken down and its gates burned. He weeps, fasts, and prays, asking God for favor before the king so he can help.

Explanation

More than a hundred years after Jerusalem's destruction, and decades after other exiles had returned, the city was still vulnerable, without protective walls — a sign of shame and weakness for the people. Nehemiah, who lived comfortably in the Persian court, allows himself to be deeply moved by the suffering of a people he did not even live physically close to. His prayer is remarkable for combining sincere confession of the people's sins with remembrance of God's promises, ending with a practical, specific request for favor. Nehemiah's example teaches that true intercession begins with a broken heart and ends willing to act.

Fun facts

  • The role of royal cupbearer was no minor job: it involved tasting the king's wine to make sure it was not poisoned, which required extreme trust from the monarch — Nehemiah therefore had unusual access and influence at court.
  • Susa, where Nehemiah served, was one of the capitals of the Persian empire, the very city where the story of Esther takes place, decades earlier.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Neemias 1:1The book opens in Shushan, one of the capitals of the Persian empire, in the month of Chisleu, around November, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes. It is there that Nehemiah, living at the Persian court, receives the news that will change his life.
  2. Neemias 1:2Hanani arrives from Judah with news about those who remained in the province after the exile, and this conversation sets off the entire action of the book. Nehemiah lives in Shushan, far from Jerusalem, and depends on exactly these traveler's reports to learn what is happening in the land of his ancestors.
  3. Neemias 1:3The answer Nehemiah receives is harsh: those who remained in Judah live in misery, exposed to the scorn of their neighbors, because the wall is broken down and the gates burned — more than a century after the first return from exile.
  4. Neemias 1:4On hearing that the wall has fallen and the gates are burned, Nehemiah weeps, fasts, and spends days in prayer before taking any practical action. It is a grief that comes before action: he processes the news with real sorrow before even thinking about asking the king for help.
  5. Neemias 1:5Nehemiah begins his prayer by calling God great and terrible, and recalling that He keeps covenant faithfulness with those who love and obey Him — a way of opening the prayer grounded in old promises, not new requests.
  6. Neemias 1:6He asks God to pay attention to his prayer day and night, and makes a point of including himself and his own family in the collective confession of sin — he does not speak as someone standing outside the problem.
  7. Neemias 1:7The confession continues by acknowledging that the people failed to keep both the commandments and the statutes and judgments that God had given through Moses.
  8. Neemias 1:8Nehemiah cites an old promise made to Moses: if the people disobeyed, they would be scattered among the nations — exactly what had happened with the exile.
  9. Neemias 1:9But the same promise also guaranteed the opposite: if the people turned back to God, He would bring them back even if they were scattered to the ends of the earth.
  10. Neemias 1:10Nehemiah closes by recalling that this struggling people still belongs to God, the same God who had already redeemed Israel before with great power, likely a reference to the Exodus from Egypt.
  11. Neemias 1:11At the end of the chapter it is revealed that Nehemiah was the Persian king's cupbearer — the trusted person who tasted the king's drink before he did, to make sure there was no poison. It was a position of extreme closeness to the sovereign, which explains why he had direct access to ask for such a great favor later on.

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