Nehemiah 2–4

CHAPTER 2

God’s Hand Was on Nehemiah

¹Now it happened in the month Nisan, ^ain the twentieth year of King ^bArtaxerxes, that wine was before him, and ^cI took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.

²So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? ^aThis is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid.

³I said to the king, “^aLet the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad ^bwhen the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste and its gates have been consumed by fire?”

⁴Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” ^aSo I prayed to the God of heaven.

⁵I said to the king, “If it is good for the king, and if your servant is good before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”

⁶Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it was good to the king to send me, and ^aI gave him a set time.

⁷And I said to the king, “If it is good to the king, let letters be given me ^afor the governors of the provinces beyond the ¹River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah,

⁸and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s ^aforest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of ^bthe fortress which is by the house of God, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.” And the king granted them to me because ^cthe good hand of my God was on me.

⁹Then I came to ^athe governors of the provinces beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now ^bthe king had sent with me commanders of the military force and horsemen.

¹⁰Then ^aSanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite ¹official heard about it, and it was a very great evil to them that someone had come to seek the good of the sons of Israel.

Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem’s Walls

¹¹So I ^acame to Jerusalem and was there three days.

¹²And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my heart to do for Jerusalem; and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding.

¹³So I went out at night by ^athe Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon’s Spring and on to the ¹Dung Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem ^bwhich were broken down and its ^cgates which were consumed by fire.

¹⁴Then I passed on to ^athe Spring Gate and ^bthe King’s Pool, but there was no place for ¹my animal to pass.

¹⁵So I went up at night by the ^aravine and inspected the wall. Then I turned and entered the Valley Gate and turned around.

¹⁶Now the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing; nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest who were doing the work.

¹⁷Then I said to them, “You see the calamity we are in, that ^aJerusalem lies waste and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach.”

¹⁸And I told them how the hand of my God had been good to me and also about the king’s words which he had said to me. Then they said, “Let us arise and build.” ^aSo they strengthened their hands for the good work.

¹⁹But Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite ¹official and ^aGeshem the Arab heard it. And ^bthey mocked us and despised us and said, “What is this thing you are doing? ^cAre you rebelling against the king?”

²⁰So I responded to them with a word and said to them, “^aThe God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His slaves will arise and build, ^bbut you have no portion, right, or remembrance in Jerusalem.”

CHAPTER 3

Building and Repairing the Wall

¹Then ^aEliashib the high priest arose with his brothers the priests and built ^bthe Sheep Gate; they set it apart as holy and ^cmade its doors stand. And they set apart as holy ¹the wall to ^dthe Tower of the Hundred and ^ethe Tower of Hananel.

²Next to him ^athe men of Jericho built, and next to ¹them Zaccur the son of Imri built.

³Now the sons of Hassenaah built ^athe Fish Gate; they laid its beams and made its doors stand with its bolts and bars.

⁴Next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz made repairs. And next to them Meshullam the son of Berechiah the son of Meshezabel made repairs. And next to them Zadok the son of Baana also made repairs.

⁵Moreover, next to them the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles did not ¹support the service of their masters.

⁶Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired ^athe Old Gate; they laid its beams and made its doors stand with its bolts and its bars.

⁷Next to them Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, ¹also made repairs for the official seat of the ^agovernor of the province beyond the River.

⁸Next to him Uzziel the son of Harhaiah of the ^agoldsmiths made repairs. And next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs, and they restored Jerusalem as far as ^bthe Broad Wall.

⁹Next to them Rephaiah the son of Hur, ^athe official of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs.

¹⁰Next to them Jedaiah the son of Harumaph made repairs opposite his house. And next to him Hattush the son of Hashabneiah made repairs.

¹¹Malchijah the son of Harim and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab repaired ¹another section and ^athe Tower of Furnaces.

¹²Next to him Shallum the son of Hallohesh, ^athe official of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs, he and his daughters.

¹³Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired ^athe Valley Gate. They built it and made its doors stand with its bolts and its bars, and ¹one thousand cubits of the wall to the ²Dung Gate.

¹⁴Malchijah the son of Rechab, the official of the district of ^aBeth-haccherem, repaired the ^1bDung Gate. He built it and made its doors stand with its bolts and its bars.

¹⁵Shallum the son of Col-hozeh, the official of the district of Mizpah, ^arepaired the Spring Gate. He built it, covered it and made its doors stand with its bolts and its bars, and the wall of the Pool of Shelah at ^bthe king’s garden as far as ^cthe steps that descend from the city of David.

¹⁶After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, ^aofficial of half the district of Beth-zur, made repairs as far as a point opposite the tombs of David, and as far as ^bthe artificial pool and the house of the mighty men.

¹⁷After him the Levites made repairs under Rehum the son of Bani. Next to him Hashabiah, the official of half the district of Keilah, made repairs for his district.

¹⁸After him their brothers made repairs under Bavvai the son of Henadad, the official of the other half of the district of Keilah.

¹⁹Next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, ^athe official of Mizpah, repaired another section in front of the ascent of the armory ^bat the Angle.

²⁰After him Baruch the son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the Angle to the doorway of the house of ^aEliashib the high priest.

²¹After him Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz repaired another section, from the doorway of Eliashib’s house even as far as the end of Eliashib’s house.

²²After him the priests, ^athe men of the ¹valley, made repairs.

²³After ¹them Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs in front of their house. After ²them Azariah the son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, made repairs beside his house.

²⁴After him Binnui the son of Henadad repaired another section, from the house of Azariah as far as ^athe Angle and as far as the corner.

²⁵Palal the son of Uzai made repairs in front of the Angle and the tower projecting from the upper house of the king, which is by ^athe court of the guard. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh made repairs.

^26aThe temple servants living in ^bOphel made repairs as far as the front of ^cthe Water Gate toward the east and the projecting tower.

²⁷After ¹them ^athe Tekoites repaired another section in front of the great projecting tower and as far as the wall of Ophel.

²⁸Above ^athe Horse Gate the priests made repairs, each in front of his house.

²⁹After ¹them Zadok the son of Immer made repairs in front of his house. And after him Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, made repairs.

³⁰After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired another section. After him Meshullam the son of Berechiah made repairs in front of his own ¹quarters.

³¹After him Malchijah, ¹one of ^athe goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants, in front of the ²Inspection Gate, and as far as the upper room of the corner.

³²Between the upper room of the corner and ^athe Sheep Gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants made repairs.

CHAPTER 4

Sanballat and Tobiah Mock the Jews’ Work

¹¹Now it happened that when ^aSanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and very vexed and mocked the Jews.

²He spoke in the presence of his brothers and ^athe ¹wealthy men of Samaria and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they complete it in a day? Can they bring the stones to life from the ^2bdusty rubble, though they are burned?”

³Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said, “Even what they are building—^aif a fox should ¹jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!”

^4aHear, O our God, for we are despised! ^bReturn their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity.

⁵Do not ^1aforgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before You, for they have ²vexed the builders.

⁶So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, and the people had a heart to work.

⁷¹Now it happened that when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the ²repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on, and that the places broken down began to be closed, they were very angry.

⁸All of them ^ajoined together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it.

⁹But we prayed to our God, and because of them we ^astood a guard…