Nehemiah Builds a Wall

Nehemiah 1–6

Our true story comes from a part of the Bible called Nehemiah (pronounced “nee-ah-MY-ah”). The name Nehemiah means “God comforts.”

We begin with a city wall. A very, very BIG wall that went all the way around the city of Jerusalem. The wall was there to keep people safe. But the wall around Jerusalem had been there a long time, and it was old. There were so many holes in it that it didn’t keep the people safe anymore. It needed to be fixed.


Thankfully, there was a man named Nehemiah. Nehemiah’s family and friends lived in Jerusalem.


And when he heard about the wall and all the holes, it made him very sad. 


Nehemiah wanted to do something about the broken wall. So, he decided to fix it himself. But he was just one person and the wall was big, big, BIG! Nehemiah couldn’t fix it all by himself. He needed help.


And guess what? Lots of people came to help fix the wall! The people all got to work on different parts. Some worked on the walls. Some worked on rebuilding the towers. And some worked on fixing the big wooden gates.


There is a lot of wall to build. All the people worked together to fix the wall so it would be strong and safe. The people worked and worked and worked until one day…the wall was FINISHED!


Nehemiah was so thankful God had given him people to help him fix the city’s wall. God gives us people to help us because God is good.


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Bible Paraphrase: Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. — Psalm 107:1, NIV

Text Truth: I can thank God for people who help me.



Family Devotional

Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.”
—Nehemiah 2:17

Our Bible story was about a man named Nehemiah. Nehemiah had a big job to do. He wanted to repair a wall that went all the way around the city! It was a very big job. Did he do it all by himself? No way! He had lots of people help him. They marched right up and got to work. Do you think Nehemiah was thankful for the people who helped him? I do, too. God is good to give us people to help us.

Give thanks to the LORD for he is good. —Psalm 107:1, NIV

With your family, make a list of people who help you. This could be a very long list! Doctors, teachers, grocery clerks, librarians, friends, coaches, police officers, garbage collectors, farmers . . . there are SO many people who help us!

Pray with your family. Allow any family members to pray if they wish. In your own words, acknowledge to God that He is so good! And that He gives you so many people to help you. Tell God you want to thank Him for some of the people who help you like (read through the list your family made). And tell God you also want to thank Him for (say the names of your family members), because they help you, too. Thank God for His love and acknowledge to God your love for Him.

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Story illustrations are the copyright of Sweet Publishing and licensed by FreeBibleimages (http://freebibleimages.org) for free download under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 3.0 unported license. 
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