Day 272: The Call of Nehemiah (2026)

Fr. Mike Schmitz (0:04)

Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to The Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using The Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. Speaking of today, it is day 272 Day 272, it's kind of a palindrome. And we're reading Nehemiah chapter 1 and 2 Remember, Ezra was one book. Ezra and Nehemiah were originally one book. Now, we're continuing the story, but at the same time, it is fascinating to note that Nehemiah is written in the first person. And so Nehemiah is going to be the one telling us the story for these chapters, chapter 1 and 2 Also Zechariah chapter 12 and 13 will conclude Zechariah, the prophet, tomorrow. But right now we have Zechariah chapter 12 and 13 We also have Proverbs chapter 20 verses 20 through 22 As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from the Revised Standard Version and the Second Catholic Edition. I'm using The Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com/bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receiving daily episodes and daily updates. It is day 272 We're reading Nehemiah 1 and 2, Zechariah 12 and 13, and Proverbs chapter 20 verses 20 through 22

The Book of Nehemiah, chapter 1, Nehemiah's prayers.

The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hakaliah. Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Sousa, the capital, that Hanani, one of my brethren, came with certain men out of Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews that survived who had escaped exile and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, The survivors there in the province who escaped exile are in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire. When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days. And I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, O Lord, God of heaven, the great and terrible God who keeps covenant and merciful love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes be open to hear the prayer of your servant, which I now pray before you day and night for the sons of Israel, your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Yes, I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes and the ordinances which you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word which you commanded your servant Moses, saying, If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples. But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though you are disbursed be under the farthest skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place which I have chosen to make my name dwell there. They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.

Now, I was the cup-bearer to the king.

Chapter 2 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence, and the king said to me, Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing else but sadness of the heart. Then I was very much afraid, I said to the king, Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my father's sepulchers, lies waste, and its gates have been destroyed by fire? Then the king said to me, For what do you make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said to the king, If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's sepulchers, that I may rebuild it. And the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, How long will you be gone, and when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me, and I said of a time, And I said to the king, If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province beyond the river, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house which I shall occupy. And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.