Nehemiah 2

Revised Geneva Translation

2 Now, in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, the wine stood before him. And I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before.

² And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.” Then I was very afraid.

³ And I said to the king, “God save the king forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city and house of the sepulchers of my fathers lies waste; and its gates are devoured with fire?”

⁴ And the king said to me, “What thing do you request?” Then I prayed to the God of Heaven,

⁵ and said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I desire that you would send me to Judah, to the city of the sepulchers of my fathers, so that I may build it.”

⁶ And the king said to me (with the queen sitting by him), “How long shall your journey be? And when will you come back?” So, it pleased the king, and he sent me. And I gave him a time.

⁷ Afterward, I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let them give me letters to the captains beyond the River, so that they may allow me passage until I come into Judah,

⁸ and letters to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s park, so that he may give me timber to build the gates of the palace which pertained to the house and for the walls of the city and for the house into which I shall enter.” And the king gave to me according to the good Hand of my God upon me.

⁹ Then I came to the captains beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. And the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.

¹⁰ But Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah (an Ammonite servant) heard it. And it sorely grieved them that there had come a man who sought the wealth of the children of Israel.

¹¹ So, I came to Jerusalem, and was there for three days.

¹² And I rose in the night, I and a few men with me. For I told no man what God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem. And there was not a beast with me, except the beast upon which I rode.

¹³ And I went out by night, by the gate of the valley, and came before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, how they were broken down, and their ports devoured with the fire.

¹⁴ Then I went forth to the gate of the fountain, and to the king’s fish pool. And there was no room for the beast that was under me to pass.

¹⁵ Then in the night, I went up by the brook and viewed the wall and turned back. And coming back, I entered by the gate of the valley and returned.

¹⁶ And the rulers did not know whether I was gone or what I did. Nor had I told it to the Jews yet, or to the priests, or to the noble men, or to the rulers, or to the rest who labored in the work.

¹⁷ Afterward I said to them, “You see the misery that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste and its gates are burnt with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, so that we are no longer a reproach.”

¹⁸ Then I told them of the Hand of my God which was good over me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise and build.” So they strengthened their hand to do good.

¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arabian heard it, they mocked us and despised us, and said, “What thing is this that you do? Will you rebel against the king?”

²⁰ Then I answered them, and said to them, “The God of Heaven, He will prosper us. And we, His servants, will rise up and build. But as for you, you have no portion or right or memorial in Jerusalem.”