About this episode
For great Bible stories, Church at Home videos, and more, check out our YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@SaddlebackKids And to find great activities, craft ideas, and parent discussion guides, head over to https://saddlebackkids.com This Bible story podcast for kids tells the story of Nehemiah Rebuilds the Wall. We referenced the following Biblical passages: Nehemiah 1-13. Hey-O Kids Curriculum’s primary goal with the Stories of the Bible is to tell the stories from God’s word accurately and in a way that is engaging to children of all ages. This is Nehemiah who was a Jewish man who worked for Persian king Artaxerxes, the king of Babylon. Many of the Jews were sent to Babylon years before because they had disobeyed God and followed after other gods. One day Nehemiah heard a report that the Jews who had returned to Judah were having a hard time and that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and the gates had been burned. This made Nehemiah sad. He didn’t eat any food for days and prayed to God for the Jews. He told God he was sorry for the wrong things he and his people had done. He reminded God of his promises and that God had said, “If you obey my commands, I will gather you together again.” Nehemiah asked for God to give him success as he went to ask the king for help. Nehemiah then went to do his job for the king. The king asked why Nehemiah was sad, so Nehemiah told the king about his people in Judah. Nehemiah prayed and told the king he wanted to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. He asked for letters from the king that would help him travel safely to Jerusalem and get the supplies he needed to rebuild the city. God helped Nehemiah and the king gave Nehemiah all he asked for. Nehemiah went to Jerusalem and checked out the walls. He went to the people and said, “Come on. Let’s rebuild the wall of Jerusalem.” And the people agreed and started that good work. Meanwhile, there were some officials from nearby lands who heard Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall and were upset. They laughed at the Jews and made fun of them. But Nehemiah said, “The God of heaven will give us success. We serve him.” Many Jews worked together to rebuild the wall including the priests, men who worked with gold, a man who made perfume, leaders from nearby villages, servants, guards, traders, and daughters as well. All the people worked with all their hearts. The officials from other lands planned to fight the Jews. But the Jews prayed to God and put guards on duty day and night. Nehemiah stationed people to defend the city where it was weak. From that day on, half of the people did the work with swords at their sides, and the other half were armed to defend the people working and the city. Nehemiah reminded them, “Our God will fight for us!” They worked from sunrise until the stars came out. The people in the city were being treated wrongly and this made Nehemiah very angry. He helped the people in the city get food and the money they needed to live. He corrected the leaders who were not helping the people as they should. He told them, “What you are doing isn’t right.” The leaders promised to do the things the way Nehemiah said. After 52 days, the city wall was finally finished! All of Judah’s enemies were afraid because they realized that God had helped finish the work. Jerusalem was large. It had a lot of room. But only a few people lived there. So God gave Nehemiah the idea to gather more people to come and live in Jerusalem now that the wall had been rebuilt, and many people returned home to Israel as God gathered his people together again. A teacher of God’s law named Ezra came and read the Book of the Law to all the people who could understand. The Israelites admitted they had sinned, worshipped God, and promised to follow God’s commands. Nehemiah was the governor of Judah for twelve years, then he went back to his job with the king of Babylon. Sometime later, Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem and found that some of the Israelites had not kept their promise to God. Nehemiah tried to set everything right and then he prayed to God saying, “You are my God. Please remember me with kindness.”