Nehemiah (redirected from Nechemya)

Nehemiah, persons in the Bible

Nehemiah (nē'əmī`ə), in the Bible.

1 Central figure of the Book of Nehemiah: see Ezra.

2 One who returned from the Exile.

3 Worker on the wall.

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Nehemiah, book of the Bible

Nehemiah, originally combined with Ezra to form a single book in the Hebrew canon. In the Septuagint, Ezra and Nehemiah are combined as Second Esdras. The book narrates the return to Jerusalem of Nehemiah, the cup-bearer of Persian King Artaxerxes I, as governor of the city-state. In the first period of Nehemiah's governorship (445–433 B.C.) as related in the book, Jerusalem's walls were rebuilt. There follows an account of the census taking during the earlier era of Zerubbabel in c.520 B.C. The work continues with the return of Ezra in 458 B.C.; the reading of the Jewish law; the national confession of sin; a return to Nehemiah's first governorship; and a brief account of his second term, which began sometime after 433 B.C.

Bibliography

See Ezra for bibliography.

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Nehemiah

(flourished 5th century BC) Jewish leader who supervised the rebuilding of Jerusalem. His story is told in the biblical book of Nehemiah. He was cupbearer to the Persian ruler Artaxerxes I soon after the end of the Babylonian Exile, when the Temple of Jerusalem had been rebuilt but the Jewish community was still weak and fragmented. Around 444 BC he was put in charge of Jerusalem's reconstruction, and he organized the rebuilding of the city walls. He also revived adherence to Mosaic law and forbade intermarriage with non-Jews. His work as a reformer was later continued by Ezra.

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Nehemiah Old Testament

1. a Jewish official at the court of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, who in 444 bc became a leader in the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity

2. the book recounting the acts of Nehemiah