Nehemiah 1:1–1:3, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Nehemiah 1:1–1:3
Jerusalem's survivors are reported in distress
A cupbearer in Susa asks about people, not a project
The words of Nehemiah son of Hachaliah open in Chislev of the twentieth year. Hanani and men of Judah arrive. Nehemiah asks after the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
The book does not begin with a builder's vision. It begins with a diaspora official receiving news about a living community still marked by captivity.
The report names affliction, reproach, and burned gates
Hanani answers that the remnant are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and the gates are burned with fire. Survivors, shame, and a city that cannot shut its doors stand together.
Ruins here are a people's present danger after imperial destruction. They are not a verdict on Jewish worth, and they are not a slogan for some later nation's border.
How this should shape us
Hear local testimony about who is hungry, exposed, or shamed before you invent a repair. Do not reduce a community to its broken structures, and do not treat someone else's distant report as the whole truth.
Teach it back
Explain Nehemiah 1:1–1:3 in your own words. Include its movement, one source-supported detail, one material uncertainty, one affected or obscured person, and one misuse the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: The heading may frame memoir material editorially; Artaxerxes and the month-year relation are historically reconstructed rather than identified in this verse.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Nehemiah 1:1–1:3, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, repeated roots, Persian titles, names, and translation controls.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Neh.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 1:1–1:3
Supports: A unit-bounded KJV comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, literary, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence in the notes is not treated as positive evidence.
NET Bible Nehemiah PDF, printed p. 763, translation text and any translator notes printed for 1:1–1:3
Supports: A bounded Persian-period setting control for Jerusalem's small scale, disputed wall line, gates, repopulation, temple-centered administration, Sabbath, intermarriage, and archaeological limits; it is not cited as independent proof of this unit.
Sivan, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 'Jerusalem and Iran,' Vol. XIV, Fasc. 6, pp. 632–634, complete Achaemenid-period section; book-level setting control for Nehemiah 1:1–1:3
Supports: A bounded book-level control for competing memoir, source, editorial-layer, Ezra-Nehemiah, list, chronology, and literary-composition proposals; it is not cited as verse-specific historical proof.
Fulton pp. 5–10, Carr pp. 11–20, Klein pp. 21–27, and Wright pp. 28–36 in JHS 7 (2007), article 12; book-level composition control applied to Nehemiah 1:1–1:3
Supports: Later fifth-century primary evidence for Persian provincial offices, Bagohi in Judah, a Sanballat gubernatorial family in Samaria, temple petitioning, and diverse Yahwistic diaspora communities.
TAD A4.7/Cowley 30, petition dated 25 November 407 BCE, recto and verso lines 1–30, especially the governor and Sanballat-family notices
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Nehemiah 1:1–1:3, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Nehemiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, repeated roots, Persian titles, names, and translation controls.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Neh.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 1:1–1:3
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Nehemiah with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: A unit-bounded KJV comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, literary, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence in the notes is not treated as positive evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Nehemiah PDF, printed p. 763, translation text and any translator notes printed for 1:1–1:3
Open source ↗scholarly encyclopedia article
Jerusalem and Iran
Hagith Sivan
Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. XIV, Fasc. 6, pp. 632-634, 2008; updated 2012
Supports: A bounded Persian-period setting control for Jerusalem's small scale, disputed wall line, gates, repopulation, temple-centered administration, Sabbath, intermarriage, and archaeological limits; it is not cited as independent proof of this unit.
Exact location: Sivan, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 'Jerusalem and Iran,' Vol. XIV, Fasc. 6, pp. 632–634, complete Achaemenid-period section; book-level setting control for Nehemiah 1:1–1:3
Open source ↗peer reviewed scholarly forum
Revisiting the Composition of Ezra-Nehemiah: In Conversation with Jacob Wright's Rebuilding Identity
Deirdre N. Fulton, David M. Carr, Ralph W. Klein, Gary N. Knoppers, and Jacob L. Wright
Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 7, article 12, 2007
Supports: A bounded book-level control for competing memoir, source, editorial-layer, Ezra-Nehemiah, list, chronology, and literary-composition proposals; it is not cited as verse-specific historical proof.
Exact location: Fulton pp. 5–10, Carr pp. 11–20, Klein pp. 21–27, and Wright pp. 28–36 in JHS 7 (2007), article 12; book-level composition control applied to Nehemiah 1:1–1:3
Open source ↗primary achaemenid period aramaic document
Petition to Authorize Rebuilding the Elephantine Temple (TAD A4.7; Cowley 30)
Yedaniah and fellow Jewish priests of Yeb; modern presentation by K. C. Hanson
K. C. Hanson Collection of West Semitic Documents, 25 November 407 BCE; web edition
Supports: Later fifth-century primary evidence for Persian provincial offices, Bagohi in Judah, a Sanballat gubernatorial family in Samaria, temple petitioning, and diverse Yahwistic diaspora communities.
Exact location: TAD A4.7/Cowley 30, petition dated 25 November 407 BCE, recto and verso lines 1–30, especially the governor and Sanballat-family notices
Open source ↗