Nehemiah’s Prayer
(Deuteronomy 30:1–10)

1The wordes of Nehemiah the sonne of Hachalia. In the moneth Chisleu, in the twentie yere, as I was in the castell at Susan, 2Came Hanani, one of my brethren, he and the men of Iuda: and I asked them howe the Iewes dyd that were deliuered and escaped from the captiuitie, and howe it went at Hierusalem. 3And they sayde vnto me: The remnaunt that are left of the captiuitie there in the lande, are in great affliction and rebuke: the wall of Hierusalem also is broken downe, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire.

4And when I hearde these wordes, I sat downe and wept, and mourned certayne dayes, and fasted and prayed before the God of heauen, 5And sayde: O Lorde God of heauen, thou great and terrible God, thou that kepest couenaunt and mercie for them that loue thee & obserue thy commaundementes: 6Let thyne eares hearken I beseche thee, and let thyne eyes be open, that thou mayest heare the prayer of thy seruaunt, whiche I pray nowe before thee day and night for the children of Israel thy seruauntes, and knowledge the sinnes of the children of Israel which we haue sinned against thee: I and my fathers house haue sinned, 7We haue greeuously sinned against thee, and haue not kept thy commaundementes, statutes, and iudgementes, whiche thou commaundedst thy seruaunt Moyses. 8I beseche thee call to remembraunce the worde that thou commaundedst thy seruaunt Moyses, and saydest, Ye will transgresse, and I will scatter you abrode among the nations: 9But if ye turne vnto me, and kepe my commaundementes, & do them: though ye were cast out vnto the vttermost part of heauen, yet wil I gather you from thence, and will bring you vnto the place that I haue chosen, to set my name there. 10They are thy seruauntes and thy people, whom thou hast deliuered through thy great power, and in thy mightie hande. 11O Lorde I besech thee, let thyne eare hearken to the prayer of thy seruaunt, and to the prayer of thy seruauntes, whose desire is to feare thy name: and let thy seruaunt prosper this day, and graunt him mercie in the sight of this man. For I was the kinges butler.