Nehemiah 2:5–11

5 and answered the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, send me to Judah and to the city where my ancestors are buried,B,ad so that I may rebuild it.”ae

6 The king, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” So I gave him a definite time,af and it pleased the king to send me.

7 I also said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let me have letters written to the governors of the region west of the Euphrates River,ag so that they will grant me safe passage until I reach Judah.ah 8 And let me have a letter written to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so that he will give me timber to rebuild the gates of the temple’s fortress,ai the city wall, and the home where I will live.”C,aj The king granted my requests, for the gracious hand of my God was on me.ak

9 I went to the governors of the region west of the Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters.al The king had also sent officers of the infantry and cavalry with me. 10 When Sanballat the Horoniteam and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard that someone had come to pursue the prosperity of the Israelites, they were greatly displeased.a

PREPARING TO REBUILD THE WALLS

11 After I arrived in Jerusalem and had been there three days,b