Nehemiah 2–4

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.

^9*Then 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 burned 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 ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

3Then ^aEliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the ^bsheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the ^ctower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the ^dtower of Hananeel. ²And ^†next unto him builded ^ethe men of Jericho. And next to them builded ^fZaccur the son of Imri. ³But the ^gfish gate did the sons of ^hHassenaah build, who also ⁱlaid the beams thereof, and ^jset up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof. ⁴And next unto them repaired ^kMeremoth the son of ^kUrijah, the son of ^lKoz. And next unto them repaired ^mMeshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of ⁿMeshezabeel. And next unto them repaired ⁿZadok the son of Baana. ⁵And next unto them the ^oTekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to ^pthe work of their Lord. ⁶Moreover the ^qold gate repaired Jehoiada the son of ^rPaseah, and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah; they ⁱlaid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, and the locks thereof, and the bars thereof. ⁷And next unto them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon ^sthe Meronothite, the men of ^tGibeon, and of ^uMizpah, unto the ^xthrone of the governor on this side the river. ⁸Next unto him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the ^ygoldsmiths. Next unto him also repaired ^zHananiah the son of one of the ^aapothecaries, and they ^||fortified Jerusalem unto the ^bbroad wall. ⁹And next unto them repaired Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of ^cthe half part of Jerusalem. ¹⁰And next unto them repaired Jedaiah the son of Harumaph, even over against his house. And next unto him repaired ^dHattush the son of ^eHashabniah. ^11fMalchijah the son of ^gHarim, and ^hHashub the son of ⁱPahath-moab, repaired the ^†other piece, and the ^ktower of the furnaces. ¹²And next unto him repaired Shallum the son of ^lHalohesh, the ruler of ^cthe half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters. ¹³The ^mvalley gate repaired ⁿHanun, and the inhabitants of ^oZanoah; they built it, and ^pset up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and a thousand cubits on the wall unto ^qthe dung gate. ¹⁴But the ^qdung gate repaired ^rMalchiah the son of Rechab, the ruler of part of ^sBeth-haccerem; he built it, and ^pset up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof. ¹⁵But ^tthe gate of the fountain repaired Shallun the son of ^uCol-hozeh, the ruler of part of ^vMizpah; he built it, and covered it, and ^pset up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of ^wSiloah by the ^xking’s garden, and unto ^ythe stairs that go down from the city of David. ¹⁶After him repaired Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of the half part of ^zBeth-zur, unto the place over against ^athe sepulchres of David, and to the ^bpool that was made, and unto the house of the mighty. ¹⁷After him repaired the Levites, Rehum the son of ^cBani. Next unto him repaired ^dHashabiah, the ruler of the half part of ^eKeilah, in his part. ¹⁸After him repaired their brethren, Bavai the son of ^fHenadad, the ruler of the half part of ^eKeilah. ¹⁹And next to him repaired ^gEzer the son of ^hJeshua, the ruler of ⁱMizpah, another piece over against the going up to ^kthe armoury at ^lthe turning of the wall. ²⁰After him ^mBaruch the son of ^n||Zabbai earnestly repaired the other piece, from ^lthe turning of the wall unto the door of the house of ^oEliashib the high priest. ²¹After him repaired ^pMeremoth the son of Urijah the son of Koz another piece, from the door of the house of ^oEliashib even to the end of the house of Eliashib. ²²And after him repaired the priests, the men of ^qthe plain. ²³After him repaired ^rBenjamin and ^sHashub over against their house. After him repaired ^tAzariah the son of ^uMaaseiah the son of Ananiah by his house. ²⁴After him repaired ^wBinnui the son of ^fHenadad another piece, from the house of ^tAzariah unto ^lthe turning of the wall, even unto ^xthe corner. ²⁵Palal the son of Uzai, over against ^lthe turning of the wall, and the tower which lieth out from ^ythe king’s high house, that was by ^zthe court of the prison. After him ^aPedaiah the son of ^bParosh. ²⁶Moreover ^cthe Nethinims ^||dwelt in ^||Ophel, unto the place over against the ^dwater gate toward the east, and the tower that lieth out. ²⁷After them the ^eTekoites repaired another piece, over against the great tower that lieth out, even unto the wall of Ophel. ²⁸From above the ^fhorse gate repaired the priests, every one over against his house. ²⁹After them repaired Zadok the son of ^gImmer over against his house. After him repaired also ^hShemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the ⁱeast gate. ³⁰After him repaired ^kHananiah the son of ^lShelemiah, and ^mHanun the sixth son of Zalaph, another piece. After him repaired ⁿMeshullam the son of Berechiah over against his ^ochamber. ³¹After him repaired ^pMalchiah ^qthe goldsmith’s son unto ^rthe place of the Nethinims, and of the ^smerchants, over against the gate ^tMiphkad, and to the ^||going up of the corner. ³²And between the ^||going up of the corner unto the ^usheep gate repaired ^qthe goldsmiths and the merchants.

4But it came to pass, ^athat when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and ^bmocked the Jews. ²And he spake before his brethren and the army of ^cSamaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they ^†fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? ³Now ^aTobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if ^da fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. ^4eHear, O our God; for we are ^†despised: and ^fturn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity: ⁵And ^gcover not their iniquity, and ^hlet not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. ⁶So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.

⁷But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the ⁱArabians, and the ^jAmmonites, and the ^kAshdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem ^†were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, ⁸And ^lconspired all of them together…