-
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.
02 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,
03 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?
04 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou
make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
05 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.
06 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.
07 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;
08 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.
09 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.
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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.
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