Nehemiah 2

The King Sends Nehemiah to Jerusalem

1In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, wine was before him. I took up the wine and gave it to the king. I had not previously been sad in his presence. 2The king said to me, “Why is your face sad when you are not sick? This can only be sadness of heart.” Then I was very afraid. 3I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my ancestors’ tombs, lies in ruins and its gates have been consumed by fire?” 4The king said to me, “What are you asking?” So I prayed to the God of heaven, 5and I said to the king, “If it is good in the king’s eyes, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’ tombs, so that I may rebuild it.”

6Then the king said to me, with the queen sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” It was good in the king’s eyes to send me, and I gave him a time. 7I also said to the king, “If it is good in the king’s eyes, let letters be given to me for the governors Beyond the River, so that they will let me pass until I come to Judah, 8and a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress by the house, for the city wall, and for the house I will enter.” The king granted me this, because the good hand of my God was upon me. 9Then I came to the governors Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. The king had sent army officers and horsemen with me. 10When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it was very troubling to them that someone had come to seek the good of the Israelites.

Nehemiah Inspects the Wall

11I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12Then I arose at night, I and a few men with me. I had told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me except the animal I rode. 13I went out at night through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate. I inspected the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates, which had been consumed by fire. 14Then I passed on to the Spring Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was no place for the animal under me to pass. 15So I went up by the valley at night and inspected the wall. Then I turned back and entered through the Valley Gate, and returned. 16The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, for I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest who would do the work.

Rise Up and Build

17Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a disgrace.” 18I told them how the good hand of my God had been upon me and also the words the king had spoken to me. They said, “Let us rise up and build.” And they strengthened their hands for the good work. 19But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Geshem the Arabian heard, they mocked us and despised us and said, “What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” 20I answered them and said, “The God of heaven will give us success. We, his servants, will rise up and build. But you have no portion, right, or memorial in Jerusalem.”