[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR SATURDAY MAY 14

[Donnie Parrett]

DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR SATURDAY MAY 14

DAILY BIBLE READING

Nehemiah 1-3 New King James Version
Nehemiah Prays for His People
1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah.

It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in
Shushan[a] the [b]citadel, 2 that Hanani one of my brethren came with men
from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had
survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me,
"The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in
great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and
its gates are burned with fire."

4 So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned
for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

5 And I said: "I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who
keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love [c]You and observe [d]Your
commandments, 6 please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that
You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and
night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the
children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father's house
and I have sinned. 7 We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not
kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded
Your servant Moses. 8 Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your
servant Moses, saying, 'If you [e]are unfaithful, I will scatter you among
the nations; 9 but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do
them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens,
yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have
chosen as a dwelling for My name.' 10 Now these are Your servants and Your
people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand.
11 O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your
servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name;
and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the
sight of this man."

For I was the king's cupbearer.

Nehemiah Sent to Judah
2 And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King
[f]Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to
the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. 2 Therefore the
king said to me, "Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is
nothing but sorrow of heart."

So I became [g]dreadfully afraid, 3 and said to the king, "May the king live
forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my
fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?"

4 Then the king said to me, "What do you request?"

So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, "If it pleases
the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you
send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it."

6 Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), "How long
will your journey be? And when will you return?" So it pleased the king to
send me; and I set him a time.

7 Furthermore I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be
given to me for the governors of the region beyond [h]the River, that they
must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph
the keeper of the king's forest, that he must give me timber to make beams
for the gates of the [i]citadel which pertains to the [j]temple, for the
city wall, and for the house that I will occupy." And the king granted them
to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.

9 Then I went to the governors in the region beyond the River, and gave them
the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen
with me. 10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite [k]official
heard of it, they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the
well-being of the children of Israel.

Nehemiah Views the Wall of Jerusalem
11 So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12 Then I arose in the
night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my
heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one
on which I rode. 13 And I went out by night through the Valley Gate to the
Serpent Well and the [l]Refuse Gate, and [m]viewed the walls of Jerusalem
which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire. 14 Then I
went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King's Pool, but there was no room
for the animal under me to pass. 15 So I went up in the night by the
valley,[n] and [o]viewed the wall; then I turned back and entered by the
Valley Gate, and so returned. 16 And the officials did not know where I had
gone or what I had done; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the
nobles, the officials, or the others who did the work.

17 Then I said to them, "You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem
lies [p]waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the
wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach." 18 And I told them
of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king's
words that he had spoken to me.

So they said, "Let us rise up and build." Then they set[q] their hands to
this good work.

19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem
the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, "What is
this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?"

20 So I answered them, and said to them, "The God of heaven Himself will
prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no
heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem."

Rebuilding the Wall
3 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests and
built the Sheep Gate; they consecrated it and hung its doors. They built as
far as the Tower of [r]the Hundred, and consecrated it, then as far as the
Tower of Hananel. 2 [s]Next to Eliashib the men of Jericho built. And next
to them Zaccur the son of Imri built.

3 Also the sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate; they laid its beams and
hung its doors with its bolts and bars. 4 And next to them Meremoth the son
of Urijah, the son of [t]Koz, made repairs. Next to them Meshullam the son
of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabel, made repairs. Next to them Zadok the
son of Baana made repairs. 5 Next to them the Tekoites made repairs; but
their nobles did not put their [u]shoulders to the work of their Lord.

6 Moreover Jehoiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah
repaired the Old Gate; they laid its beams and hung its doors, with its
bolts and bars. 7 And next to them Melatiah the Gibeonite, Jadon the
Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and Mizpah, repaired the residence[v] of the
governor of the region [w]beyond the River. 8 Next to him Uzziel the son of
Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. Also next to him Hananiah,
[x]one of the perfumers, made repairs; and they [y]fortified Jerusalem as
far as the Broad Wall. 9 And next to them Rephaiah the son of Hur, leader of
half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs. 10 Next to them Jedaiah the
son of Harumaph made repairs in front of his house. And next to him Hattush
the son of Hashabniah made repairs.

11 Malchijah the son of Harim and Hashub the son of Pahath-Moab repaired
another section, as well as the Tower of the Ovens. 12 And next to him was
Shallum the son of Hallohesh, leader of half the district of Jerusalem; he
and his daughters made repairs.

13 Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate. They built
it, hung its doors with its bolts and bars, and repaired a thousand cubits
of the wall as far as the Refuse Gate.

14 Malchijah the son of Rechab, leader of the district of Beth Haccerem,
repaired the Refuse Gate; he built it and hung its doors with its bolts and
bars.

15 Shallun the son of Col-Hozeh, leader of the district of Mizpah, repaired
the Fountain Gate; he built it, covered it, hung its doors with its bolts
and bars, and repaired the wall of the Pool of Shelah[z] by the King's
Garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the City of David. 16 After
him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, leader of half the district of Beth Zur, made
repairs as far as the place in front of the [aa]tombs of David, to the
man-made pool, and as far as the House of the Mighty.

17 After him the Levites, under Rehum the son of Bani, made repairs. Next to
him Hashabiah, leader of half the district of Keilah, made repairs for his
district. 18 After him their brethren, under [ab]Bavai the son of Henadad,
leader of the other half of the district of Keilah, made repairs. 19 And
next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, the leader of Mizpah, repaired another
section in front of the Ascent to the Armory at the buttress.[ac] 20 After
him Baruch the son of [ad]Zabbai carefully repaired the other section, from
the [ae]buttress to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest. 21
After him Meremoth the son of Urijah, the son of [af]Koz, repaired another
section, from the door of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house of
Eliashib.

22 And after him the priests, the men of the plain, made repairs. 23 After
him Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs opposite their house. After them
Azariah the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, made repairs by his house.
24 After him Binnui the son of Henadad repaired another section, from the
house of Azariah to the [ag]buttress, even as far as the corner. 25 Palal
the son of Uzai made repairs opposite the [ah]buttress, and on the tower
which projects from the king's upper house that was by the court of the
prison. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh made repairs.

26 Moreover the Nethinim who dwelt in Ophel made repairs as far as the place
in front of the Water Gate toward the east, and on the projecting tower. 27
After them the Tekoites repaired another section, next to the great
projecting tower, and as far as the wall of Ophel.

28 Beyond the Horse Gate the priests made repairs, each in front of his own
house. 29 After them Zadok the son of Immer made repairs in front of his own
house. After him Shemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the East
Gate, made repairs. 30 After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun,
the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired another section. After him Meshullam the
son of Berechiah made repairs in front of his [ai]dwelling. 31 After him
Malchijah, [aj]one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of
the Nethinim and of the merchants, in front of the [ak]Miphkad Gate, and as
far as the upper room at the corner. 32 And between the upper room at the
corner, as far as the Sheep Gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants made
repairs.

Footnotes
Nehemiah 1:1 Or Susa
Nehemiah 1:1 Or fortified palace, and so elsewhere in the book
Nehemiah 1:5 Lit. Him
Nehemiah 1:5 Lit. His
Nehemiah 1:8 act treacherously
Nehemiah 2:1 Artaxerxes Longimanus
Nehemiah 2:2 Lit. very much
Nehemiah 2:7 The Euphrates
Nehemiah 2:8 palace
Nehemiah 2:8 Lit. house
Nehemiah 2:10 Lit. servant
Nehemiah 2:13 Dung
Nehemiah 2:13 examined
Nehemiah 2:15 torrent valley, wadi
Nehemiah 2:15 examined
Nehemiah 2:17 desolate
Nehemiah 2:18 Lit. strengthened
Nehemiah 3:1 Heb. Hammeah
Nehemiah 3:2 Lit. On his hand
Nehemiah 3:4 Or Hakkoz
Nehemiah 3:5 Lit. necks
Nehemiah 3:7 Lit. throne
Nehemiah 3:7 West of the Euphrates
Nehemiah 3:8 Lit. the son
Nehemiah 3:8 restored
Nehemiah 3:15 Or Shiloah
Nehemiah 3:16 LXX, Syr., Vg. tomb
Nehemiah 3:18 So with MT, Vg.; some Heb. mss., LXX, Syr. Binnui (cf. v. 24)
Nehemiah 3:19 Lit. turning
Nehemiah 3:20 A few Heb. mss., Syr., Vg. Zaccai
Nehemiah 3:20 Lit. turning
Nehemiah 3:21 Or Hakkoz
Nehemiah 3:24 Lit. turning
Nehemiah 3:25 Lit. turning
Nehemiah 3:30 Lit. room
Nehemiah 3:31 Lit. a son of the goldsmiths
Nehemiah 3:31 Lit. Inspection or Recruiting