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“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.” (Nehemiah 2:1-20 AV)
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