Keys to Remember Nehemiah

I have been spending a lot of time in Nehemiah in my personal time with God and I have truly been growing through this great book. One of the tools I have been attempting to utilize is identifying a key verse for each chapter so it would be easier for me to remember the flow of the book. I want to post these verses first, for me so I can see them laid out in order to see if they indeed work as mnemonic devices. Secondly, I would like to have any feedback you may have about them.

I will be the first to admit that I am sure many scholars would disagree that each of these are the key verses found in Nehemiah. My goal was not to necessarily find the theological key verse or the structural key verse but instead find the verse in each chapter that I could easily memorize, that would help me remember what that chapter was about, and that I could use in my Christian walk. With that said, here are the 13 verses I think summarize Nehemiah:

Nehemiah 1:10 - "They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand."

Nehemiah 2:18 - "I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king's words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, "Let us arise and build." So they put their hands to the good work."

Nehemiah 3:20 - "After him Baruch the son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the Angle to the doorway of the house of Eliashib the high priest."

Nehemiah 4:17 - "Those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carried burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon."

Nehemiah 5:8 - "I said to them, 'We according to our ability have redeemed our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations; now would you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us?' Then they were silent and could not find a word to say."

Nehemiah 6:9 - "For all of them were trying to frighten us, thinking, 'They will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done.' But now, O God, strengthen my hands."

Nehemiah 7:2 - "then I put Hanani my brother, and Hananiah the commander of the fortress, in charge of Jerusalem, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many."

Nehemiah 8:8 - "They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading."

Nehemiah 9:17 - "They refused to listen, And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them; So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But You are a God of forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness; And You did not forsake them."

Nehemiah 10:39b - "... Thus we will not neglect the house of our God."

Nehemiah 11:2 - "And the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem."

Nehemiah 12:43 - "and on that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy, even the women and children rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar."

Nehemiah 13:14 - "Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my loyal deeds which I have performed for the house of my God and its services."

I will post more about each chapter and why I chose these verses but for now I would simply ask the question, "If you have read the book of Nehemiah a couple of times and then memorized these 13 verses, do you think you would be able to remember the book in general in the order in which it was written?" I am attempting to memorize these 13 verses and thus have a better understanding of this important book.

In the upcoming days, I will be posting a brief summary of each chapter and lessons we can take away from the chapter.

Let me know what you think of these verses, or, if you have a different verse from a particular chapter, let me know why you would choose a different verse.