Old Testament · Nehemiah 1:1–11Nehemiah 2:1–20Nehemiah 4:1–23Nehemiah 6:15–16
Nehemiah Rebuilds Jerusalem — Bible Story for Kids
Nehemiah was sad that Jerusalem's walls were broken. He prayed, asked the king for help, and led the people to rebuild the wall in 52 days.
This is a retelling for children, written by BibleKenya from the Bible passages shown on each picture. It is not a Bible translation.
heard that the walls of were broken down. He was very sad, and he to God.
heard that the wall of was broken down and its gates burned with fire. He sat down and wept, mourned for days, and and before the God of heaven.
served the king his drinks. The king asked, "Why are you sad?" Nehemiah quickly, then asked to go and rebuild the city. The king said yes!
was the king's cupbearer. King asked, "Why is your face sad?" Nehemiah was afraid, but he to the God of heaven and asked to be sent to rebuild the city. The king agreed and gave him letters, "because the good hand of my God was on me."
In , looked at the broken walls at night. Then he said to the people, "Let's rebuild!" They said, "Let's get to work!"
went out by night to inspect the broken walls and burned gates. Then he said to the people, "Come, let's build up the wall of ." They said, "Let's rise up and build." So they strengthened their hands for the good work.
Some enemies laughed at them and threatened them. The builders kept working, and some held a tool in one hand and protection in the other.
and Tobiah mocked them: "If a fox climbs up it, he will break down their stone wall!" When they threatened to attack, set guards, and the builders worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other.
The wall was finished in just 52 days! Everyone knew God had helped them.
So the wall was finished in fifty-two days. When their enemies heard of it, they lost their confidence, because they saw that this work was done by God.
Bible explorer Nehemiah 3 lists the families who built each section of the wall, side by side.
The end of the story
Read it in the Bible
This is the Bible text itself, from the version shown. Scripture in WEBWorld English Bible — Protestant Edition
Nehemiah 1:1–11 WEB
1The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the palace, 2Hanani, one of my brothers, came, he and certain men out of Judah; and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3They said to me, “The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” 4When I heard these words, I sat down and wept, and mourned several days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, 5and said, “I beg you, LORD, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6let your ear now be attentive and your eyes open, that you may listen to the prayer of your servant which I pray before you at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel your servants, while I confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against you. Yes, I and my father’s house have sinned. 7We have dealt very corruptly against you, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances, which you commanded your servant Moses. 8“Remember, I beg you, the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you trespass, I will scatter you among the peoples; 9but if you return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the uttermost part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen, to cause my name to dwell there.’ 10“Now these are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. 11Lord, I beg you, let your ear be attentive now to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name; and please prosper your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cup bearer to the king.
Nehemiah 2:1–20 WEB
1In the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, I picked up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before in his presence. 2The king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why shouldn’t my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?” 4Then the king said to me, “What is your request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may build it.” 6The king said to me (the queen was also sitting by him), “How long will your journey be? When will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set a time for him. 7Moreover I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah; 8and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house that I will occupy.” The king granted my requests, because of the good hand of my God on me. 9Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. 10When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, because a man had come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. 11So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. 12I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I didn’t tell anyone what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There wasn’t any animal with me except the animal that I rode on. 13I went out by night by the valley gate toward the jackal’s well, then to the dung gate; and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates were consumed with fire. 14Then I went on to the spring gate and to the king’s pool, but there was no place for the animal that was under me to pass. 15Then I went up in the night by the brook and inspected the wall; and I turned back, and entered by the valley gate, and so returned. 16The rulers didn’t know where I went, or what I did. I had not as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest who did the work. 17Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come, let’s build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we won’t be disgraced.” 18I told them about the hand of my God which was good on me, and also about the king’s words that he had spoken to me. They said, “Let’s rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work. 19But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they ridiculed us and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?” 20Then I answered them, and said to them, “The God of heaven will prosper us. Therefore we, his servants, will arise and build; but you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem.”
Nehemiah 4:1–23 WEB
1But when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry, and was very indignant, and mocked the Jews. 2He spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, since they are burned?” 3Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, “What they are building, if a fox climbed up it, he would break down their stone wall.” 4“Hear, our God, for we are despised. Turn back their reproach on their own head. Give them up for a plunder in a land of captivity. 5Don’t cover their iniquity. Don’t let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have insulted the builders.” 6So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. 7But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabians, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, and that the breaches began to be filled, they were very angry; 8and they all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion among us. 9But we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night because of them. 10Judah said, “The strength of the bearers of burdens is fading and there is much rubble, so that we are not able to build the wall.” 11Our adversaries said, “They will not know or see, until we come in among them and kill them, and cause the work to cease.” 12When the Jews who lived by them came, they said to us ten times from all places, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.” 13Therefore I set guards in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the open places. I set the people by family groups with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14I looked, and rose up, and said to the nobles, to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them! Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.” 15When our enemies heard that it was known to us, and God had brought their counsel to nothing, all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. 16From that time forth, half of my servants did the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows, and the coats of mail; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. 17Those who built the wall, and those who bore burdens loaded themselves; everyone with one of his hands did the work, and with the other held his weapon. 18Among the builders, everyone wore his sword at his side, and so built. He who sounded the trumpet was by me. 19I said to the nobles, and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread out, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. 20Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally there to us. Our God will fight for us.” 21So we did the work. Half of the people held the spears from the rising of the morning until the stars appeared. 22Likewise at the same time I said to the people, “Let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labor in the day.” 23So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me took off our clothes. Everyone took his weapon to the water.
Nehemiah 6:15–16 WEB
15So the wall was finished in the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. 16When all our enemies heard of it, all the nations that were around us were afraid, and they lost their confidence; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.
Who is in the story?
- Nehemiah The king's cupbearer who led the rebuilding of Jerusalem's wall (Nehemiah 1:11, 2:5).
- King Artaxerxes The king of Persia who sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:1-8).
- Sanballat and Tobiah Men who mocked and opposed the builders (Nehemiah 4:1-3).
Words to learn
- Fasting
- Going without food for a time, usually to pray, mourn or seek God. The Bible records fasts by individuals and whole communities.
- Jerusalem
- Jerusalem is the city where King David lived and where the temple was. Nehemiah helped rebuild its walls.
- Prayer
- Prayer is talking to God. Jesus taught his friends a prayer that begins, "Our Father in heaven".
What can we learn from this passage?
Nehemiah prayed before he acted, even in the middle of a conversation with the king. The people worked together, and their enemies saw that the work had been done with God's help. Nehemiah 2:4–5Nehemiah 6:16