NE-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.

NE-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,

NE-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?

NE-2:4  Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make

request? So I

prayed to the God of heaven.

NE-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.

NE-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.

NE-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;

NE-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.

NE-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.

NE-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.

NE-2:11  So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.

NE-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.

NE-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.

NE-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.

NE-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.

NE-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.

NE-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.

NE-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].

NE-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?

NE-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.

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