Nehemiah
2:1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of
Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine,
and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his
presence.
2:2 Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou
art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very
sore afraid,
2:3 And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my
countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres,
lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?
2:4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed
to the God of heaven.
2:5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have
found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto
the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.
2:6 And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long
shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king
to send me; and I set him a time.
2:7 Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be
given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over
till I come into Judah;
2:8 And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may
give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which
appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the
house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the
good hand of my God upon me.
2:9 Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's
letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with
me.
2:10 When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard
of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the
welfare of the children of Israel.
2:11 So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
2:12 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any
man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was
there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.
2:13 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.
2:14 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.
2:15 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.
2:16 And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as
yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to
the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.
2:17 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.
2:18 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.
2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite,
and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised
us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the
king?
2:20 Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will
prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have
no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.
