Nehemiah 2

1And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, wine before him: and I took up the wine, and gave unto the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2therefore the king said unto me, Why your countenance sad, seeing you not sick? this nothing 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, waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? 4Then the king said unto me, For what dost you make request? So I prayed to the Elohim of heaven. 5And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if your servant have found favour in your sight, that you 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 your journey be? and when will you 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 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 Elohim 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 , 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. 12And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I man what my Elohim had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither 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 no place for the beast 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 returned. 16And the rulers knew not where I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told 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 in, how Jerusalem 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 Elohim 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 good . 19But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard , they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king? 20Then answered I them, and said unto them, The Elohim 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.