Nehemiah 2

¹ In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes,[*a] the wine being my concern, I took up the wine and offered it to the king. Now I had never been downcast before.

² So the king said, ‘Why is your face so sad? You are not sick, surely? This must be a sadness of the heart.’ A great fear came over me

³ and I said to the king, ‘May the king live for ever! How could my face be other than sad when the city where the tombs of my ancestors are lies in ruins, and its gates have been burnt down?’

⁴ ‘What’ the king asked ‘is your request?’ I called on the God of heaven

⁵ and made this reply to the king, ‘If it pleases the king, and if you are satisfied with your servant, give me leave to go to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’ tombs, and rebuild it’.

⁶ The king, with the queen sitting there beside him, said, ‘How long will your journey take, and when will you return?’ So I named a date that seemed acceptable to the king and he gave me leave to go.

⁷ I spoke to the king once more, ‘If it please the king, could letters be given me for the governors of Transeuphrates to allow me to pass through to Judah?

⁸ And also a letter for Asaph, keeper of the king’s park, to supply me with timber for the gates of the citadel of the Temple, for the city walls and for the house I am to occupy?’ This the king granted me, for the kindly favour of my God was with me.

⁹ So I travelled to the governors of Transeuphrates, and handed them the king’s letters. The king had given me an escort of army officers and cavalry.

¹⁰ When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite slave[*b] came to know of this, they were much displeased that anyone should come to promote the welfare of the sons of Israel.

¹¹ And so I reached Jerusalem and stayed there for three days.

¹² Then I rose in the night, with a few other men, not having told anyone what work God had inspired me to do for Jerusalem, and having no animal with me but my own mount.

¹³ At night, therefore, leaving by the Valley Gate, I went by way of the Well of the Dragon to the Dung Gate; I examined the walls of Jerusalem with their gaps and burnt-out gates.

¹⁴ I went on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but found no further path for my mount.

¹⁵ So I returned, in the dark, through the wadi, still examining the walls, and came in again by the Valley Gate. And so I returned

¹⁶ without the officials knowing where I had gone or what I was doing. So far I had said nothing to the Jews: either to the priests, the authorities, the officials or any other responsible persons.

¹⁷ Then I said to them, ‘You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem is in ruins, its gates have been burnt down. Come, let us rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and suffer this indignity no longer.’

¹⁸ And I told them how the kindly favour of God had been with me, and also repeated the words the king had said to me. ‘Let us start!’ they exclaimed ‘Let us build’; and with willing hands they set about the good work.

¹⁹ When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite slave, and Geshem the Arab came to know of this, they ridiculed us, and came and asked, ‘What are you doing? Are you planning to revolt against the king?’

²⁰ But I gave them this answer, ‘The God of heaven will give us success. We, his servants, are going to build; you have neither share nor rights nor memorial in Jerusalem.’