Nehemiah 2

And it came to pass in the month ^aNisan, in ^bthe twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and ^cI took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. ²Wherefore the king said unto me, ^dWhy is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but ^esorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, ³and said unto the king, ^fLet the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when ^gthe city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and ^hthe gates thereof are consumed with fire? ⁴Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to ⁱthe God of heaven. ⁵And 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. ⁶And 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 ^jtime. ⁷Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the ^kgovernors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; ⁸and a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s ^lforest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the ^mpalace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for ⁿthe house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, ^oaccording to the good hand of my God upon me.

⁹Then I came to the ^kgovernors beyond the river, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. ¹⁰When ^pSanballat the ^qHoronite, and ^rTobiah the servant, the ^sAmmonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man ^tto seek the welfare of the children of Israel. ^11uSo I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. ¹²And 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. ¹³And I went out by night by the ^wgate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the ^xdung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were ^ybroken down, and ^zthe gates thereof were consumed with fire. ¹⁴Then I went on to the ^agate of the fountain, and to the ^bking’s pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. ¹⁵Then went I up in the night by the ^cbrook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the ^wgate of the valley, and so returned. ¹⁶And the ^drulers 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 ^drulers, nor to the rest that did the work. ¹⁷Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem ^elieth waste, and ^fthe gates thereof are burnt with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more ^ga reproach. ¹⁸Then I told them of ^hthe 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 ⁱstrengthened their hands for this good work. ¹⁹But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and ^kGeshem the Arabian, heard it, they ^llaughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? ^mwill ye rebel against the king? ²⁰Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: ⁿbut you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

III.