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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