Nehemiah 2 · נחמיה

And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaĥshasta the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.

Wherefore the king said to me, Why is thy face sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very much afraid,

and I said to the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of the tombs of my ancestors lies waste, and its gates are consumed with fire?

Then the king said to me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

And I said to the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight that thou wouldst send me to Yehuda, to the city of the graves of my ancestors, that I may rebuild it.

And the king said to 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.

Moreover I said to the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may let me pass through until I come into Yehuda;

and a letter to Asaf the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, 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.

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.

When Sanvallat the Ḥoronite, and Toviyya the servant, the ῾Ammonite, heard of it, it displeased them greatly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Yisra᾽el.

So I came to Yerushalayim, and was there three days.

And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; and I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Yerushalayim: nor was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.

And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon’s well, and to the dung gate, and viewed the walls of Yerushalayim, which were broken down, and its gates which had been destroyed by fire.

Then I went on to the fountain gate and to the king’s pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.

Then I went up in the night by the wadi, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.

And the rulers knew not where I had gone or what I had done; nor had I as yet told it to the Jews, or to the priests, or to the nobles, or to the rulers, or to the rest who did the work.

Then said I to them, You see the distress that we are in, how Yerushalayim lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire: come and let us build up the wall of Yerushalayim, so that we no longer suffer insult.

Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that had spoken to me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.

But when Sanvallat the Ḥoronite, and Toviyya the servant, the ῾Ammonite, and Geshem the ῾Arvian heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that you do? will you rebel against the king?

Then I answered them, and said to them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but you have no portion, or right, or memorial, in Yerushalayim.