And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,
Parallel translations
- WEB When I heard these words, I sat down and wept, and mourned several days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven,
- BSB When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
- NKJV 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.
- NASB Now when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
- NLT When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Hearing the news, Nehemiah weeps, mourns, fasts, and prays for days before "the God of heaven." His response models how grief over sin and ruin should drive us to God rather than to mere despair or schemes.
Overview
Nehemiah does not rush immediately to action but first sits in sustained mourning and turns to prayer and fasting. His title for God, "the God of heaven," affirms the LORD's sovereign rule even over the Persian empire. This pattern—genuine sorrow leading to earnest, prolonged prayer—shows that true reform begins on one's knees, and it anticipates the believer's call to bring every burden to the throne of grace.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Dan 9:3And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
- Ps 137:1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
- Ezra 10:1Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.
- Ps 69:9–10For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
- Ps 102:13–14Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.
- Neh 2:4Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
- Zeph 3:18I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden.
- Rom 12:15Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
- Dan 2:18That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
- Ezra 9:3And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.
- Ezra 5:11–12And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was builded these many years ago, which a great king of Israel builded and set up.
- Jonah 1:9And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
- 1 Sam 4:17–22And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The rebuilt walls and renewed covenant community foreshadow the greater builder who gathers and secures a people for God, the one who declares 'I will build my church.'
How Nehemiah 1:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.