NehemiahChapter 2

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¹Then came the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes. Wine was set before the king. I picked up the wine and gave it to him. I had never been sad in front of him before. ²So the king asked me, "Why do you look so sad? You are not sick. This must be sadness of the heart." I was very afraid. ³I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why shouldn't I be sad? The city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins. Its gates have been burned with fire." ⁴The king said, "What do you want?" So I prayed to the God of heaven. ⁵Then I answered the king, "If it pleases the king, and if you are pleased with your servant, please send me to Judah. Send me to the city where my fathers are buried, so I can rebuild it." ⁶The queen was sitting beside the king. He asked me, "How long will your trip take? When will you come back?" The king was pleased to send me. So I told him a time. ⁷I also said to him, "If it pleases the king, please give me letters for the governors west of the Euphrates River. Then they will let me pass safely until I reach Judah. ⁸And please give me a letter to Asaph, who takes care of the king's forest. Then he will give me wood to make beams. I need beams for the gates of the fortress by the temple. I need them for the city wall and for the house I will live in." My God's kind hand was on me. So the king gave me what I asked for. ⁹Then I went to the governors west of the Euphrates. I gave them the king's letters. The king had also sent army officers and horsemen with me. ¹⁰Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this. They were very upset that someone had come to help the people of Israel. ¹¹I went to Jerusalem. After I had been there three days, ¹²I set out at night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal with me was the one I was riding. ¹³So I went out at night through the Valley Gate. I went toward the Well of the Serpent and the Dung Gate. I looked closely at the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down. I looked at the gates, which had been burned with fire. ¹⁴Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and the King's Pool. But there was no room for my animal to get through. ¹⁵So I went up the valley in the dark and looked at the wall. Then I turned back and came in again through the Valley Gate. ¹⁶The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing. I had not yet told the Jews about it. I had not told the priests, the nobles, the officials, or any of the other workers. ¹⁷Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins. Its gates have been burned down. Come, let's rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Then we will no longer be a shame." ¹⁸I also told them how my God's kind hand had been on me. I told them what the king had said to me. They answered, "Let's start building!" So they got ready to do this good work. ¹⁹Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about this. They made fun of us and laughed at us. They said, "What are you doing? Are you turning against the king?" ²⁰I answered them, "The God of heaven will give us success. We are his servants, and we will start building. But you have no share in Jerusalem. You have no right to it and no claim on it."