2It happened in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. And I had never been sad before the king. ²So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad since you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” And I was very much afraid. ³I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad when the city of my ancestors’^a burial site^b is ruined and her gates are consumed by fire?” ⁴Then the king said to me, “What is your request?” So I prayed to the God of the heavens. ⁵Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your presence, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’^c burial sites, so that I may rebuild it.”

⁶With the queen sitting beside him, the king said to me, “How long will your journey be and when will you return?” So it pleased the king and he sent me, and I set for him an appointed time. ⁷Then I said to the king, “If it is good for the king, let letters be given to me for the governors in the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass until I come to Judah. ⁸Also, a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s land reserve, that he should give me timber for laying the beams for the gates of the citadel of the house and for the walls of the city, and for the house which I will enter.” And the king gave permission to me, according to the good hand of God on me.

⁹I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River, and I gave them the letters of the king. Then the king sent troop commanders and horses with me. ¹⁰But when Sanballat the Horonite and the Ammonite servant Tobiah heard this, they were greatly displeased^d that a person had come to seek the welfare of the Israelites.^e

Nehemiah Inspects the Walls and Decides to Restore Them

¹¹I came to Jerusalem and was there for three days. ¹²I got up during the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anybody what my God put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. No animal was with me except the animal that I was riding on. ¹³I went out during the night at the gate of the valley by the Dragon spring and to the Dung Gate. And I examined the walls in Jerusalem and its gates that had been destroyed by the fire. ¹⁴I crossed over to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no place for my mount^f to cross over. ¹⁵So I went up by the valley during the night and was examining the wall. Then I returned and came to the Valley Gate and returned. ¹⁶The prefects did not know where I had gone and what I was doing. I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the prefects, and the rest of the workers.

¹⁷Then I said to them, “You see the misery that we are in, that Jerusalem is ruined and its gates burned by the fire. Come, build the walls of Jerusalem and we shall no longer be a disgrace.” ¹⁸I told them of the good hand of my God that was upon me and surely the words of the king that were spoken to me. And they said, “Let us arise and build!” And they strengthened their hands for this good work. ¹⁹But Sanballat the Horonite, the Ammonite servant Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab heard it, and they mocked and despised us, saying, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” ²⁰Then I answered and said to them, “The God of the heavens himself will let us succeed, and we his servants shall arise and build. But for you there is no share, right, or memorial in Jerusalem.”

Organization of the Work

3Then Eliashib the high priest and his brothers the priests arose and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and erected its doors. They consecrated it up to the Tower of the Hundred and up to the Tower of Hananel. ²And next to him^a the men of Jericho built, and next to him^b Zaccur son of Imri built.

³The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate. They laid its beams and erected its doors, its bolts, and its bars. ⁴Next to them^c Meremoth son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz, repaired. Next to them^d Meshullam son of Berekiah, son of Meshezabel, repaired. Next to them^e Zadok son of Baana repaired. ⁵Next to them^f the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles did not put their neck to the work of their lord.

⁶Jehoiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam repaired the old Yeshanah Gate. They laid its beams and erected its doors, its bolts, and its bars. ⁷Next to them^g Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and Mizpah who were under the rule of the governor of the province Beyond the River, repaired. ⁸Next to him^h Uzziel son of Harhaiah (goldsmiths) repaired. Next to himⁱ Hananiah son of the perfume-makers repaired. They restored Jerusalem up to the Broad Wall. ⁹Next to them^j Rephaiah son of Hur, commander of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired. ¹⁰Next to them^k Jedaiah son of Harumaph repaired opposite his house. Next to him^l Hattush son of Hashabneiah repaired.

¹¹Malkijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-Moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens. ¹²Next to him^m Shallum son of Hallohesh, commander of half of the district of Jerusalem, repaired with his daughters.

¹³Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate. They rebuilt it and erected its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and a thousand cubits of the wall up to the Dung Gate.

¹⁴Malkijah son of Recab, commander of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate. He rebuilt it and erected its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

¹⁵Shallun son of Col-Hozeh, the commander of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it and covered it and erected its doors, its bolts, its bars, and he built the wall of the Pool of Shelah of the king’s garden, right up to the steps going down from the city of David. ¹⁶After him Nehemiah son of Azbuk, commander of half of the district of Beth Zur, repaired up to a point opposite the burial sites of David, and up to the artificial pool and to the house of the mighty warriors.

¹⁷After him the Levites repaired; Rehum son of Bani, and next to him Hashabiah, commander of half of the district of Keilah, repaired his district. ¹⁸After him their brothers repaired: Bavvai son of Henadad, commander of half of the district of Keilah, ¹⁹next to himⁿ Ezer son of Jeshua, commander of Mizpah, repaired a second section of a wall opposite of the ascent of the armory at the angle. ²⁰After him Baruch son of Zabbai zealously repaired a second section of a wall from the angle up to the doorway of the house of Eliashib the high priest. ²¹After him Meremoth son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz, repaired a second section of a wall from the doorway of the house of Eliashib up to the end of the house of Eliashib.

²²After him the priests, men from the vicinity, repaired. ²³After them Benjamin and Hasshub repaired opposite their house. After them Azariah son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, repaired beside his house. ²⁴After him Binnui son of Henadad repaired a second section of a wall from the house of Azariah up to the angle up to the corner. ²⁵Palal son of Uzai repaired opposite the Angle at the tower that juts out from the upper house of the king, at the courtyard of the guard. After him Pedaiah son of Parosh ²⁶and the temple servants who were living on Ophel repaired up to opposite the Water Gate on the east and the projecting tower. ²⁷After him the Tekoites repaired a second section of a wall opposite the projecting tower that goes out as far as the wall of Ophel.

²⁸Above the Horse Gate the priests repaired, each one opposite his house. ²⁹After them Zadok son of Immer repaired opposite his house. After him Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, keeper of the East Gate, repaired. ³⁰After him Hananiah son of Shelemiah and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section. After him Meshullam son of Berekiah repaired the wall opposite his room. ³¹After him Malkijah, one of the goldsmiths,^o repaired up to the house of the temple servants and the merchants, opposite the Enrollment Gate and up to the upper room of the corner. ³²Between the upper room of the corner to the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and merchants repaired.

Opposition Begins

4^a Now it happened when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he became angry and greatly provoked, and he mocked the Jews. ²Then he said before his brothers and the army of Samaria, “What are the feeble Jews doing? Will they restore these things for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the piles of rubble—even those burned up?”

³Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and said, “Their wall of stone that they are building would break down if a fox went on it!”

⁴Hear, our God, for we are despised. Turn their scorn on their head and give them over to plunder in the land of captivity. ⁵Do not cover their guilt, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before you. They have provoked the builders to anger.^b

⁶So we rebuilt the wall, and all of the wall was joined up to half its height. For the people had a heart to do it.

Opposition Stopped

⁷Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. ⁸So all of them plotted together to come fight against Jerusalem and to make trouble for it. ⁹So we prayed to our God and set up a guard against them day and night.

¹⁰But Judah said, “The strength of the carriers is failing, and there is too much dirt, and we are not able to build at the wall.” ¹¹Then our enemies said, “They will not know nor see until we come upon them and will kill them and stop the work.” ¹²When the Jews who lived beside them came, they said to us ten times, “From all of the places where they live, they will come up against us.” ¹³I stationed the people behind the deepest part of the wall in the open places according to their…

Read in Logos

This passage has been shortened. Keep reading Nehemiah 2–4 in Logos

Footnotes

aOr “fathers’ ”
bHebrew “sites”
cOr “fathers’ ”
dLiterally “it was a great disaster for them”
eLiterally “sons/children of Israel”
fLiterally “the animal under me”
aLiterally “at his hand”
bLiterally “at his hand”
cLiterally “At their hand”
dLiterally “At their hand”
eLiterally “At their hand”
fLiterally “At their hand”
gLiterally “At their hand”
hLiterally “At his hand”
iLiterally “At his hand”
jLiterally “At their hand”
kLiterally “At their hand”
lLiterally “At his hand”
mLiterally “At his hand”
nLiterally “at his hand”
oLiterally “the son of the goldsmith”
a Nehemiah 4:1–23 in the English Bible is 3:33–4:17 in the Hebrew Bible
bLiterally “provoked anger before the builders”