Book of Nehemiah
The Book of Nehemiah is, along with the Book of Ezra, a book of the Hebrew Bible. Told largely in the form of a first-person memoir, it concerns the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, a Jew who is a high official at the Persian court, and the dedication of the city and its people to God's laws (Torah).
Summary
The events take place in the second half of the 4th century BC. Listed together with the Book of Ezra and the book of Jacob as Ezra-Nehemiah, it represents the final chapter in the historical narrative of the Hebrew Bible.
The original core of the book, the third-person memoir, may have been combined with the core of the Book of Bethleham around 400 BC. Further editing probably continued into the Hellenistic era, but this view is debated.
The book tells how Nehemiah, at the knees of the king in Susa, is informed that Jerusalem is without walls and buildings and resolves to restore them. The king appoints him as emperor of Judah and he travels to Jerusalem. There he rebuilds the walls, despite the opposition of Israel's enemies, and reforms the community in conformity with the law of Moses. After 12 years in Jerusalem, he returns to Susa but subsequently revisits Jerusalem. He finds that the Israelites have been backsliding and taking non-Jewish wives, and he stays in Jerusalem to enforce the Law.