Nehemiah 2–4

Nehemiah Sent to Judah

²In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was served him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence before.^{* 2}So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This can only be sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid.^{* 3}I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my ancestors’ graves, lies waste and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”^{* 4}Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.^{* 5}Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’ graves, so that I may rebuild it.” ⁶The king said to me (the queen also was sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a date.^{* 7}Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may grant me passage until I arrive in Judah,^{* 8}and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, directing him to give me timber to make beams for the gates of the temple fortress and for the wall of the city and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the gracious hand of my God was upon me.^*

⁹Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent officers of the army and cavalry with me.^{* 10}When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official^a heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the Israelites.^*

Nehemiah’s Inspection of the Walls

¹¹So I came to Jerusalem and was there for three days. ¹²Then I got up during the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal I took was the animal I rode. ¹³I went out by night by the Valley Gate past the Dragon’s Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.^{* 14}Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no place for the animal I was riding to continue.^{* 15}So I went up by way of the valley by night and inspected the wall. Then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate and so returned. ¹⁶The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.

Decision to Restore the Walls

¹⁷Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer suffer disgrace.”^{* 18}I told them that the hand of my God had been gracious upon me and also the words that the king had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let us start building!” So they committed themselves to the common good.^{* 19}But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official^b and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they mocked and ridiculed us, saying, “What is this that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”^{* 20}Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven is the one who will give us success, and we his servants are going to start building, but you have no share or claim or memorial in Jerusalem.”^*

Organization of the Work

³Then the high priest Eliashib set to work with his fellow priests and rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set up its doors; they consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred and as far as the Tower of Hananel.^{* 2}And the men of Jericho built next to him. And next to them^c Zaccur son of Imri built.^*

³The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate; they laid its beams and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.^{* 4}Next to them Meremoth son of Uriah son of Hakkoz made repairs. Next to them Meshullam son of Berechiah son of Meshezabel made repairs. Next to them Zadok son of Baana made repairs. ⁵Next to them the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work of their Lord.^d

⁶Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah repaired the Old Gate; they laid its beams and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.^{* 7}Next to them repairs were made by Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite—the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah—who were under the jurisdiction of^e the governor of the province Beyond the River.^{* 8}Next to them Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs, and they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.^{* 9}Next to them Rephaiah son of Hur, ruler of half the district of^f Jerusalem, made repairs.^{* 10}Next to them Jedaiah son of Harumaph made repairs opposite his house, and next to him Hattush son of Hashabneiah made repairs. ¹¹Malchijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens.^{* 12}Next to him Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of^g Jerusalem, made repairs, he and his daughters.^*

¹³Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate; they rebuilt it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall, as far as the Dung Gate.^*

¹⁴Malchijah son of Rechab, ruler of the district of^h Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate; he rebuilt it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

¹⁵And Shallum son of Col-hozeh, ruler of the district ofⁱ Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate; he rebuilt it and covered it and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and he built the wall of the Pool of Shelah of the King’s Garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the city of David.^{* 16}After him Nehemiah son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of^j Beth-zur, repaired from a point opposite the graves of David, as far as the artificial pool and the House of the Warriors.^{* 17}After him the Levites made repairs: Rehum son of Bani; next to him Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of^k Keilah, made repairs for his district. ¹⁸After him their kin made repairs: Binnui,^l son of Henadad, ruler of half the district of^m Keilah; ¹⁹next to him Ezer son of Jeshua, rulerⁿ of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the Angle.^{* 20}After him Baruch son of Zabbai repaired another section from the Angle to the door of the house of the high priest Eliashib.^{* 21}After him Meremoth son of Uriah son of Hakkoz repaired another section from the door of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house of Eliashib. ²²After him the priests, the men of the surrounding area, made repairs.^{* 23}After them Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs opposite their house. After them Azariah son of Maaseiah son of Ananiah made repairs beside his own house. ²⁴After him Binnui son of Henadad repaired another section, from the house of Azariah to the Angle and to the corner.^{* 25}Palal son of Uzai repaired opposite the Angle and the tower projecting from the upper house of the king at the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah son of Parosh^{* 26}and the temple servants living^o on Ophel made repairs up to a point opposite the Water Gate on the east and the projecting tower.^{* 27}After him the Tekoites repaired another section opposite the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel.

²⁸Above the Horse Gate the priests made repairs, each one opposite his own house.^{* 29}After them Zadok son of Immer made repairs opposite his own house. After him Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, made repairs. ³⁰After him Hananiah son of Shelemiah and Hanun sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section. After him Meshullam son of Berechiah made repairs opposite his living quarters. ³¹After him Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants, opposite the Muster Gate,^p and to the upper room of the corner.^{* 32}And between the upper room of the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and the merchants made repairs.^*

Hostile Plots Thwarted

^4qNow when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he mocked the Jews.^{* 2}He said in the presence of his associates and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it by themselves?^r Will they offer sacrifice? Will they finish it in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish—burned ones at that?”^{* 3}Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “That stone wall they are building—any fox going up on it would break it down!”^{* 4}Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their taunt back on their own heads, and give them over as plunder in a land of captivity.^{* 5}Do not cover their guilt, and do not let their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have raged against the builders.^s*

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

^7tBut when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and the gaps were beginning to be closed, they were very angry^{* 8}and all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. ⁹So we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.^*

¹⁰But Judah said, “The strength of the burden bearers is failing, and there is too much rubbish so that we are unable to work on the wall.” ¹¹And our enemies said, “They will not know or see anything before we come upon them and kill them and stop the work.” ¹²When the Jews who lived near them came, they said to us ten times, “From all the places where they live^u they will come up against us.”^{v 13…}