Nehemiah 2

1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, the wine was before me; and I took the wine and gave it to the king. And there was no one else in his presence. [a] 2 And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, and why are you not holding yourself in check? This is nothing but a sadness of the heart.” And I was very greatly afraid, 3 and I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city — the house of my fathers’ tombs — has been laid waste, and its gates have been eaten up by fire?”

4 And the king said to me, “What is it you are asking for?” And I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I said to the king, “If it is good to the king, and if your servant is pleasing before you — send him to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, and I will rebuild it.” 6 And the king said to me — and the concubine was sitting beside him — “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” And it was good before the king, and he sent me; and I set him a time. [b]

7 And I said to the king, “If it is good to the king, let him give me letters to the governors beyond the River, so that they may bring me along until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the garden that belongs to the king, so that he may give me timber to roof the gates, and for the wall of the city, and for the house I will go into.” And the king gave it to me, as the good hand of God was upon me.

9 And I came to the governors beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. And the king had sent commanders of the army and horsemen with me. 10 And Sanballat the Horonite heard of it, and Tobiah the slave, the Ammonite, and it seemed bad to them that a man had come to seek good for the children of Israel. [c]

11 And I came to Jerusalem, and I was there three days. 12 And I got up in the night, I and a few men with me; and I told no one what God was putting into my heart to do with Israel. And there was no animal with me except the animal I was riding.

13 And I went out through the Valley Gate, and toward the mouth of the Spring of the Figs, and to the Dung Gate; and I was breaking my way along the wall of Jerusalem, which they were pulling down, and its gates that fire had eaten up. [d] 14 And I passed on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, and there was no room for the animal to pass under me. [f] 15 And I went up by night along the wall of the ravine, and I was breaking my way along the wall. And I was at the Valley Gate, and I turned back. 16 And the watchmen did not know why I had gone or what I was doing; and up to that time I had not told it to the Jews, or to the priests, or to the nobles, or to the commanders, or to the rest who were doing the work.

17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in — how Jerusalem lies waste and its gates have been given over to fire. Come, let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, and we will not be a reproach any longer.” 18 And I told them of the hand of God, that it was good upon me, and the words of the king that he had spoken to me. And I said, “Let us get up and build.” And their hands were strengthened for the good work.

19 And Sanballat the Horonite heard, and Tobiah the slave, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab; and they laughed us to scorn, and they came at us and said, “What is this thing you are doing? Are you in revolt against the king?” 20 And I gave them back a word, and I said to them, “The God of heaven — he himself will give us success. And we, his servants, are clean, and we will build. But you have no share, and no justice, and no memorial in Jerusalem.” [g]