Kislev 6, 5786; from sunset November 25, 2025, to sunset November 26, 2025
(The sixth day of the ninth month)
This is an image of a portion of the wall rebuilt by Nehemiah and company.
Sometime in the month of Kislev (Chislev), Nehemiah became aware of the plight of those who remained in Jerusalem after the exile. The text does not tell us what day of the month this happened, but the tales he was told caused him to weep, mourn and confess the sins of himself, his father’s house and all Israel.
The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” 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.
And I said: “I pray, LORD God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.
“Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, `If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’ Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand.
“O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” For I was the king’s cupbearer. – Nehemiah 1 (NKJ)
Oftentimes the meaning of the names of people and places in the Bible are woven into the story being told. We are told that Nehemiah wept and mourned, fasted and prayed, and repented of his sins and those of his people. Let’s take a look at the name of Nehemiah in Hebrew to see if we can find a connection between his name and his story.
נְחֶמְיָה
The name Nehemiah transliterated from Hebrew is “Nechemyah” (pronounced like “Neh-khem-yah”). Nehemiah is a combination of two Hebrew words.
נחם
The verb root “nacham” means to be sorry, to repent, to regret, to be comforted, or to comfort. Most frequently this word is translated as “to repent;” second most common is “to comfort” or “to be comforted.” Additional words stemming from this root are:
- nocham = sorrow, repentance
- nichum = comfort, compassion
- nechamah = comfort
- tanchum = consolation
The root also occurs in other biblical proper names such as Nahum, Menehem, and Capernaum.
The TWOT lexicon states that the origin of this root seems to reflect the idea of “breathing deeply,” hence the physical display of one’s feelings, usually sorrow, compassion, or comfort.
In our reading above, we learned that when Nehemiah heard of the state of disrepair of the city and the dire living conditions of those in Jerusalem, he prayed for forgiveness. He was sorry for his sins and those of his people. He wept, mourned, fasted, and prayed for days. Nehemiah embodied the origin of his name, “sighing or breathing deeply, the physical display of one’s feelings.”
The second part of Nechemyah is…
יה
“Yah” is a truncated form of God’s Holy name, which consists of the letters – “yod”, “he”, “vav”, and “he” – when spelled in its entirety. The Hebrew letters shown above are “yod” and “he.” The name “Yah” is mainly found when praising God in the Psalms; otherwise, it is used only four other times in scripture, yet is often found at the ending of Hebrew names.
Nehemiah means something like “Comfort (Nechem) of the LORD (Yah).”
We’ll catch up again with Nehemiah next spring as he comes before the king to request permission to rebuild the walls and gates of Jerusalem.
To read all of our posts on Nehemiah, click on the image above.
© 2025 Today in the Bible
Today in the Bible 
You must be logged in to post a comment.