Nehemiah
Chapter 2
1 In the month of Nisan, during King Artaxerxes’s twentieth year, there was wine in front of him. I picked up the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in front of him before.
2 So the king asked me, “Why do you look sad when you’re not ill? This must be deep sadness.” I felt very afraid.
3 I told the king, “May the king live always. Why shouldn’t I look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried is ruined, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
4 Then the king asked me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to God in heaven.
5 I told the king, “If it makes the king happy, and if I have your approval, please let me go to Judah, to the city where my ancestors are buried, so I can rebuild it.”
6 The king asked me, with the queen sitting beside him, “How long will your trip take? And when will you come back?” The king was happy to let me go, and I told him when I would return.
7 Also, I said to the king, “If it’s okay with the king, please give me letters for the governors across the river so they can help me travel to Judah.”
8 I also wrote a letter to Asaph, who takes care of the king’s forest, asking for wood to build beams for the palace gates, the city wall, and the house I will live in. The king gave me what I asked for because God was kind to me.
9 I went to the leaders across the river and gave them the king’s letters. The king had sent army officers and cavalry with me.
10 When Sanballat from Horon and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about it, they were very upset that someone had come to help the people of Israel.
11 I came to Jerusalem and stayed there for three days.
12 I got up at night with a few men; I didn’t tell anyone what God had inspired me to do in Jerusalem, and I didn’t bring any animals except the one I was riding.
13 I went out at night through the valley gate, past the dragon spring and the trash gate, and I looked at Jerusalem’s walls, which were torn down, and its gates, which were burned by fire.
14 Then I went to the Fountain Gate and to the king’s pool, but there was no room for the animal I was riding to get through.
15 I went up at night by the creek, looked at the wall, turned around, entered through the valley gate, and went back.
16 The leaders did not know where I went or what I did; I had not yet told anything to the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the leaders, or the others working.
17 I told them, “You see the trouble we’re in. Jerusalem is ruined, its gates burned by fire. Come, let’s rebuild Jerusalem’s wall, so we won’t be disgraced anymore.”
18 I told them how God had helped me and what the king had said to me. They replied, “Let’s start building.” So they prepared to do this good work.
19 When Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian heard this, they laughed at us, looked down on us, and said, “What are you doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
20 I replied to them, “The God of heaven will help us succeed; so we, His servants, will start building. But you have no share, no claim, or any history in Jerusalem.”