Nehemiah 2

Nehemiah Chapter 2 KJV

1Artaxerxes, understanding the cause of Nehemiah's sadness sendeth him with letters and a commission to build the wall of Jerusalem. 9Nehemiah delivereth the letters, and to the grief of the enemies of the Jews cometh to Jerusalem. 12He vieweth the state of the walls secretly by night. 17He encourageth the Jews to build in spite of the scorn of their enemies.
1 And it came to pass in the 1month Nisan, in the 2twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and 3I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.
2 Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy 1countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I 2was very sore afraid,
3 And said unto the king, 1Let the king live for ever: why 2should not my countenance be sad, when 3the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?
4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I 1prayed to the God of heaven.
5 And I said unto the king, 1If 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 2build it.
6 And the king said unto me, (the aqueen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? 1So it pleased the king to send me; and I 2set him a time.
7 Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let 1letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah;
8 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 1wall of the city, and for 2the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, 3according to the good hand of my God upon me.
9 ¶ Then I came to the 1governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent 2captains of the army and horsemen with me.
10 When 1Sanballat the aHoronite, and 2Tobiah 3the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it 4grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man 5to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
11 So I came to Jerusalem, and was 1there three days.
12 ¶ And I 1arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither 2told 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 1gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the 2dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which 3were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
14 Then I went on to the 1gate of the fountain, and to the 2king'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 1the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.
16 And the 1rulers 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: 1come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more 2a reproach.
18 Then I told them 1of 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 2strengthened their hands for this good work.
19 But when 1Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they 2laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye 3rebel against the king?
20 Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will 1prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye 2have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 2