|
Nehemiah 2 |
1 |
And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year
of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I 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, Why is thy countenance sad,
seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of
heart. Then I was very sore afraid, |
3 |
And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why
should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my
fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are
consumed with fire? |
4 |
Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request?
So I prayed to the 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 time. |
7 |
Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let
letters be given me to the governors 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 forest, that
he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace
which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and
for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me,
according to the good hand of my God upon me. |
9 |
Then I came to the governors 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 Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the
Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was
come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. |
11 |
So 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 gate of the valley, even
before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the
walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof
were consumed with fire. |
14 |
Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king'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 brook, and viewed the
wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and
so returned. |
16 |
And the rulers 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 rulers, nor to the rest that did the
work. |
17 |
Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in,
how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with
fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be
no more a reproach. |
18 |
Then I told them of the 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 strengthened their hands
for this good work. |
19 |
But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the
Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to
scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do?
will 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: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in
Jerusalem. |