The Return
- When
- 445–430 BC
- Written by
- Nehemiah
- Chapters
- 13
The big idea
Nehemiah leaves the Persian court to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls in fifty-two days, under threat, by prayer and hard work. Then Ezra reads the law and the people renew the covenant.
Themes
- Prayerful leadership
- The word read aloud
- Work and opposition
- Covenant renewal
Memory verse
Neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
Key passages
- 1Nehemiah’s prayer
- 2:4–5A prayer before the king
- 4A sword in one hand
- 8Ezra reads the law
Links to other Scripture
- Luke 4:16–21Jesus reads in the synagogue
- Ephesians 6:10–18The armor of God
- Hebrews 13:7Remember your leaders
- 1 Thessalonians 5:17Pray without ceasing
Read the text
Choose a chapter to read it here in the King James Version. Verses with a dotted underline have notes from Bible scholars. Tap one to open them.
Notes from
Chapters
King James text and the commentaries of Henry, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Gill, Clarke, Calvin, and Keil and Delitzsch are in the public domain. Tyndale Open Study Notes are used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license, from tyndaleopenresources.com. Texts were reformatted for this site.
Journal prompts
Keep a journal or notebook for your study. Write your answers there, in your own words.
- Where do you see Christ in this book?
- Nehemiah prayed before he spoke to the king. What is a decision you could pray over first?
- The builders worked with a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other. Where do you need both work and watchfulness?
- The people wept at the reading of the law and Nehemiah told them to rejoice, for the joy of the LORD is their strength. What does that joy look like for you?
- In one sentence, this book is about…