Nehemiah 2
2
Nehemiah Is Sent to Jerusalem
1It was the month of Nisan. It was in the twentieth year King Artaxerxes was king. He wanted some wine. So I took some and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before. 2So the king said, “Why does your face look sad? You are not sick. Your heart must be sad.”
Then I was very afraid. 3I said to the king, “May the king live forever! My face is sad because the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins. And its gates have been destroyed by fire.”
4Then the king said to me, “What do you want?”
First I prayed to the God of heaven. 5Then I answered the king, “Send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried. I will rebuild it. Do this if you are willing and if I have pleased you.”
6The queen was sitting next to the king. He asked me, “How long will your trip take? When will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me. So I set a time.
7I also said to him, “If you are willing, give me letters for the governors west of the Euphrates River. Tell them to let me pass safely through their lands on my way to Judah. 8And may I have a letter for Asaph? He is the keeper of the king’s forest. Tell him to give me timber. I will need it to make boards for the gates of the palace. It is by the Temple. The wood is also for the city wall and the house I will live in.” So the king gave me the letters. This was because God was showing kindness to me. 9So I went to the governors west of the Euphrates River. I gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and soldiers on horses with me.
10Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite leader heard about this. They were upset that someone had come to help the Israelites.
Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem
11I went to Jerusalem and stayed there three days. 12Then at night I started out with a few men. I had not told anyone what God had caused me to do for Jerusalem. There were no animals with me except the one I was riding.
13It was night. I went out through the Valley Gate. I rode toward the Dragon Well and the Trash Gate. I was inspecting the walls of Jerusalem. They had been broken down. And the gates had been destroyed by fire. 14Then I rode on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool. But there was not enough room for the animal I was riding to get through. 15So I went up the valley at night. I was inspecting the wall. Finally, I turned and went back in through the Valley Gate. 16The officers did not know where I had gone or what I was doing. I had not yet said anything to the Jews, the priests, the important men or the officers. I had not said anything to any of the others who would do the work.
17Then I said to them, “You can see the trouble we have here. Jerusalem is a pile of ruins. And its gates have been burned. Come, let’s rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Then we won’t be full of shame any longer.” 18I also told them how God had been kind to me. And I told them what the king had said to me.
Then they answered, “Let’s start rebuilding.” So they began to work hard.
19But Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite leader and Geshem the Arab heard about it. They made fun of us and laughed at us. They said, “What are you doing? Are you turning against the king?”
20But I answered them, “The God of heaven will give us success. We are God’s servants. We will start rebuilding. But you have no share in Jerusalem. You have no claim or past right to it.”
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Nehemiah 2
2
The King's Commission
1And 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. 2Wherefore 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, 3and 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? 4Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5And 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. 6And 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. 7Moreover 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; 8and 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.
9Then 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. 10When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. 11So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
Surveys Jerusalem
12And 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. 13And 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. 14Then 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. 15Then 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. 16And 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.
17Then 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. 18Then 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.
Meets Opposition
19But 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? 20Then 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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Rights in the Authorized (King James) Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Published by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.
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