The Wall Was Finished (Nehemiah 1-12)

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The Wall Was Finished

Nehemiah 1-12

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The Wall Was Finished

Nehemiah 1-12

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About this song

This song belongs to the Nehemiah collection. 8 recordings are available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.

Bible book: Nehemiah
Collection: Nehemiah
Musical styles: Acoustic, Pop, World Music, Cinematic Soundtrack, Alternative Pop, Country & Americana, Worship & Gospel, Alternative Rock

[Verse 1] Nehemiah heard that Jerusalem's remnant Lived under ruin, reproach, and despair. He sat down weeping, confessed through the winter, Then stood before Artaxerxes in prayer. Letters and timber were granted for journey; By night he inspected the breaches alone. Then he called nobles and workers together: "Come, let us build; be no more a reproach." [Work Refrain] Stone in one hand, Sword at the side. Build through the mockery, Watch through the night. Family by family, Gate after gate; The wall rises faster Than enemies' hate. [Verse 2] Sanballat threatened, and Tobiah derided; Plots tried to draw Nehemiah away. False prophets offered a fearful retreat, But he would not hide nor abandon the day. Fifty-two days and the circuit was finished; Nations perceived that the work came from God. [Chorus] The wall was finished, Then the people gathered still. Ezra stood above the assembly, Opened law and read God's will. Levites gave the sense and meaning; Tears ran where the truth was heard. "Grieve not; the joy of the Lord is your strength," They answered the word. [Final Movement] Choirs walked opposite over the ramparts, Cymbals and trumpets made gladness resound. The wall was finished, the covenant renewed, And Jerusalem's joy was heard far around.

Named in this songNehemiah Jerusalem Ezra

About the passage

Nehemiah 1: A ruined city reaches the royal table

Nehemiah begins in Shushan with news, not masonry. Hanani reports that the returned community remains in affliction and reproach and that Jerusalem's wall and gates are still ruined. Nehemiah's first response is deliberately slow: he sits, weeps, fasts, and prays for days. His confession refuses the comfort of blaming people at a distance, because he includes both himself and his father's house in Israel's disobedience. The prayer then reaches back to the same covenant that explains scattering and insists that gathering belongs to that remembered word as well. Only in the closing line does the political possibility appear. Nehemiah asks for mercy "in the sight of this man," then identifies his office. He is the king's cupbearer, standing close to the authority his mission will require.

Study Nehemiah 1 in depth

Nehemiah 2: Permission in the palace, rubble in the dark

Months after Hanani's report, Nehemiah's grief becomes visible at the royal table. Artaxerxes asks what is wrong, and Nehemiah answers with both fear and preparation. A brief, unrecorded prayer sits inside the conversation, followed by precise requests for travel, letters, timber, and a return schedule. Jerusalem receives him quietly. After three days he inspects the ruined wall at night with only a few companions, and the rubble becomes so physical that his mount cannot pass. Only after seeing the damage does he call the leaders to build. They answer by strengthening their hands for the work. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem answer differently, with ridicule and an accusation of rebellion. The chapter therefore ends before a single new course of stone is described, with royal permission secured and the lines of support and opposition clearly drawn.

Study Nehemiah 2 in depth

Nehemiah 3: The wall acquires names

Nehemiah 3 reads like a construction register, but its repetition is the point. The wall acquires names, occupations, households, gates, towers, pools, and adjoining stretches. Priests begin at the Sheep Gate, while goldsmiths, an apothecary, officials, merchants, families, and people from neighboring towns take their places around the circuit. "Next unto" becomes the chapter's working rhythm, because one repaired portion matters only when it meets another. The register also refuses to flatten everybody into the same kind of participant. Tekoite nobles decline the work while their people take on more, Shallum's daughters are named, Baruch is singled out for earnest labor, and several workers repair near their own houses. The circuit finally returns to the Sheep Gate, making the list itself resemble the connected wall it records.

Study Nehemiah 3 in depth