Nehemiah 2

1It came to pass in the month of Nisan, the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, with wine before him, that I took up the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad before him.

2The king said to me, "Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing other than sorrow of heart." I was greatly afraid.

3I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, since the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?"

4The king said to me, "What is this you are requesting?" and I prayed to the God of heaven.

5I said to the king, "If it seems good to the king, and if your servant is acceptable before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may build it."

6The king said to me, with the queen sitting beside him, "How long will your journey be? And when will you return?" It was good in the king's sight, and he sent me; so I set a time for him.

7I said to the king, "If it is good to the king, grant me letters to the governors beyond the river, that they may bring me through until I come to Judah."

8and a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king's forest, that he provide me timber to lay beams across the gates of the palace belonging to the house, for the city wall, and for the house into which I will come. The king granted me this, because the good hand of my God was upon me.

9I came to the governors beyond the river and gave them the king's letters, and the king sent army captains and horsemen with me.

10When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard it, they felt great distress because a man had come to seek good for Israel's children.

11I came to Jerusalem and was there three days.

12I got up at night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem—no beast was with me except the one I rode.

13I went out at night by the Valley Gate toward the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and inspected Jerusalem's walls, which were broken down—their gates consumed by fire.

14I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the king's pool, but there was no place for the beast under me to pass.

15I went up the ravine at night and inspected the wall, then turned back, passed through the Valley Gate, and returned.

16The rulers did not know where I went or what I was doing, nor had I yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the rulers, or the rest who were doing the work.

17I said to them, "You see the calamity that engulfs us, how Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have burned in fire. Come, let us build Jerusalem's wall, that we not become a reproach any longer."

18I declared to them the hand of my God which had been good to me, as well as the king's words that he spoke to me. They said, "Let us arise and build." So they strengthened their hands for the good.

19Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Geshem the Arabian heard it, ridiculed us, despised us, and said, "What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?"

20I answered them, "The God of heaven—he will grant us success. We his servants will rise and build, but you have no share, no right, no memorial in Jerusalem."