Nehemiah 2–4

Chapter 2

Nehemiah’s Prayer Answered

¹And it came about 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 desolate 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 please the king, and if your servant has found favor 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 pleased the king to send me, and ^aI gave him a definite time.

⁷And I said to the king, “If it please the king, let letters be given me ^afor the governors of the provinces beyond the River, 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 ¹temple, 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 officers of the army and horsemen.

¹⁰When ^aSanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite ¹official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare 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 ¹mind 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 Well and on to the ¹Refuse Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem ^bwhich were broken down and its ^cgates which were consumed by fire.

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

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

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

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

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

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

²⁰So I answered them and said to them, “^aThe God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build, ^bbut you have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem.”

Chapter 3

Builders of the Walls

¹Then ^aEliashib the high priest arose with his brothers the priests and built ^bthe Sheep Gate; they consecrated it and ^chung its doors. They consecrated 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 hung its doors with its bolts and bars.

⁴Next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz made repairs. And next to him Meshullam the son of Berechiah the son of Meshezabel made repairs. And next to ¹him Zadok the son of Baana also made repairs.

⁵Moreover, next to ¹him the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles did not ²support the work of their masters.

⁶Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired ^athe Old Gate; they laid its beams and hung its doors 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 another 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 hung its doors with its bolts and its bars, and a thousand cubits of the wall to the ¹Refuse Gate.

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

¹⁵Shallum the son of Col-hozeh, the official of the district of Mizpah, ^arepaired the Fountain Gate. He built it, covered it and hung its doors 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 carried out repairs under Rehum the son of Bani. Next to him Hashabiah, the official of half the district of Keilah, carried out repairs for his district.

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

¹⁹Next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, ^athe official of Mizpah, repaired ¹another 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 ¹his house.

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

²³After ¹them Benjamin and Hasshub carried out repairs in front of their house. After them Azariah the son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, carried out 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 carried out repairs, each in front of his house.

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

³¹After him Malchijah, ¹one of ^athe goldsmiths, carried out 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 carried out repairs.

Chapter 4

Work Is Ridiculed

¹¹Now it came about that when ^aSanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious and very angry 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 finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the ^2bdusty rubble even the burned ones?”

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, how 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 ²demoralized the builders.

⁶So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a ¹mind to work.

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

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

Discouragement Overcome

⁹But we prayed to our God, and because of them we ^aset up a guard against them day and night.

¹⁰Thus ¹in Judah it was said,

“The strength of the…