Walls with heavy wooden gates and sheltering palm trees.
Each family builds its own piece of the wall.
Model · the hill of Jerusalem
The City GatesThe City Gates
We're building the City Gates
The walls of Jerusalem were broken down, and its gates were burned with fire. Nehemiah prayed, then came to build them again together with all the people. Build the city too, step by step.
Choose a piece, then drag it to the golden spot. You can also use the “Place the piece” button. Turn the scene with “Look”.
Press “Walk around” to walk around Jerusalem. When the wall is finished, press “Enter the city”: climb the road up to the Valley Gate, walk through the city to Ezra's pulpit and climb the steps onto the Broad Wall. Walk with W A S D or the arrow keys, and hold the right mouse button to look around. On a touch screen, walk with the joystick and swipe on the right side to look around. Press “Done” to go back to the model.
The Bible tells which gates and towers were built and who worked on each piece of the wall (Nehemiah 3). It does not say what each gate looked like. The shapes and places of the pieces are choices made for the model. There are no people in the scene.
Nehemiah 1:3–4
3 And they said unto me, The remnant that 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 thereof are burned with fire.
4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,
Nehemiah went out by night through the Valley Gate and looked carefully at the broken walls and the burned gates. He went past the Fountain Gate and the king's pool, then turned back.
Nehemiah 2:13–15
13 And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
14 Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king’s pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.
15 Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.
The king gave Nehemiah a letter for Asaph, the keeper of the forest, so that he would get timber for beams. The people said, “Let us rise up and build.”
Nehemiah 2:17–18
17 Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.
18 Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.
Eliashib the high priest and the priests built first: the Sheep Gate, from the tower of Meah to the tower of Hananeel. Then each family worked on its own piece of the wall.
Nehemiah 3:1
1 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel.
Enemies wanted to stop the work. The builders worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other. The man with the trumpet stood next to Nehemiah, ready to call everyone together.
Nehemiah 4:17–18
17 They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.
18 For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.
When the enemies saw the finished wall, they understood that this work had been done with the help of God.
Nehemiah 6:15–16
15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.
16 And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.
The people gathered as one man before the Water Gate. Ezra read from the book of the Law, standing on a wooden pulpit, and others helped the people understand. Then they made booths of branches and rejoiced very much.
Nehemiah 8:1–4
1 And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.
2 And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.
3 And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.
4 And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam.
At the dedication of the wall, two great choirs walked on the wall singing praise. Everyone rejoiced, even the women and the children, and the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.
Nehemiah 12:43
43 Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced: for God had made them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.