Nehemiah / Question
Nehemiah was told that the remnant in the province was in "great trouble and shame." He also heard that "the wall of Jerusalem is broken down" and its gates "burned with fire" Nehemiah 1:3.
In Nehemiah 1:3 Nehemiah receives a blunt report about those still living in Judah after the exile. The people who remain are described as suffering badly and being treated with contempt. The city’s physical condition matches their vulnerability: Jerusalem’s wall is still in ruins and its gates have been burned. This verse sits in the opening movement of Nehemiah’s story, where a question about “the Jews who escaped” and Jerusalem leads to a direct answer (Nehemiah 1:2–3).
Nehemiah 1:3 reports bad news in plain terms: a reduced community in Judah is suffering and being shamed, and Jerusalem is still physically ruined. The verse ties these together—people living with “great affliction” and “reproach” makes sense in a place with no secure walls and destroyed gates.
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with Nehemiah 1:3, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
3They said to me, The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates of it are burned with fire.