2 *And it came to pass in the month aNisan, in bthe twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and cI took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. 2 Wherefore the king said unto me, dWhy is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but esorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, 3 And said unto the king, fLet the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when gthe city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and hthe gates thereof are consumed with fire? 4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to ithe God of heaven. 5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it. 6 And the king said unto me, (the †queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a jtime. 7 Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the kgovernors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; 8 And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s lforest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the mpalace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for nthe house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, oaccording to the good hand of my God upon me.

9 *Then I came to the kgovernors beyond the river, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. 10 When pSanballat the qHoronite, and rTobiah the servant, the sAmmonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man tto seek the welfare of the children of Israel. 11 uSo I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. 12 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. 13 And I went out by night by the wgate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the xdung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were ybroken down, and zthe gates thereof were consumed with fire. 14 Then I went on to the agate of the fountain, and to the bking’s pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. 15 Then went I up in the night by the cbrook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the wgate of the valley, and so returned. 16 And the drulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the drulers, nor to the rest that did the work. 17 Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem elieth waste, and fthe gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more ga reproach. 18 Then I told them of hthe hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they istrengthened their hands for this good work. 19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and kGeshem the Arabian, heard it, they llaughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? mwill ye rebel against the king? 20 Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: nbut ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.