Nehemiah 2:9–20

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.”