When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to 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,
- KJV 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,
- 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.
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 9:3I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
- Ps 137:1By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
- Ezra 10:1Now while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before God’s house, there was gathered together to him out of Israel a very great assembly of men and women and children; for the people wept very bitterly.
- Ps 69:9–10For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
- Ps 102:13–14You will arise and have mercy on Zion; for it is time to have pity on her. Yes, the set time has come.
- Neh 2:4Then the king said to me, “What is your request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.
- Zeph 3:18I will remove those who grieve about the appointed feasts from you. They are a burden and a reproach to you.
- Rom 12:15Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.
- Dan 2:18that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his companions should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
- Ezra 9:3When I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled the hair out of my head and of my beard, and sat down confounded.
- Ezra 5:11–12Thus they returned us answer, saying, “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are building the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.
- Jonah 1:9He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.”
- 1 Sam 4:17–22He who brought the news answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and God’s ark has been captured.”
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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
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