[1] And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of
Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine and
gave it to the king. Now I had never before been sad when the king was
present. [2] And the king said to me, Why is your face sad, seeing that you
are not ill? this is nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was full of fear;
[3] And said to the king, May the king be living for ever: is it not
natural for my face to be sad, when the town, the place where the bodies of
my fathers are at rest, has been made waste and its doorways burned with
fire? [4] Then the king said to me, What is your desire? So I made prayer
to the God of heaven. [5] And I said to the king, If it is the king's
pleasure, and if your servant has your approval, send me to Judah, to the
town where the bodies of my fathers are at rest, so that I may take in hand
the building of it. [6] And the king said to me (the queen being seated by
his side), How long will your journey take, and when will you come back? So
the king was pleased to send me, and I gave him a fixed time. [7] Further,
I said to the king, If it is the king's pleasure, let letters be given to
me for the rulers across the river, so that they may let me go through till
I come to Judah; [8] And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's park,
so that he may give me wood to make boards for the doors of the tower of
the house, and for the wall of the town, and for the house which is to be
mine. And the king gave me this, for the hand of my God was on me. [9] Then
I came to the rulers of the lands across the river and gave them the king's
letters. Now the king had sent with me captains of the army and horsemen.
[10] And Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite,
hearing of it, were greatly troubled because a man had come to the help of
the children of Israel. [11] So I came to Jerusalem and was there three
days. [12] And in the night I got up, taking with me a small band of men; I
said nothing to any man of what God had put into my heart to do for
Jerusalem: and I had no beast with me but the one on which I was seated.
[13] And I went out by night, through the doorway of the valley, and past
the dragon's water-spring as far as the place where waste material was put,
viewing the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down, and the doorways
which had been burned with fire. [14] Then I went on to the door of the
fountain and to the king's pool: but there was no room for my beast to get
through. [15] Then in the night, I went up by the stream, viewing the wall;
then turning back, I went in by the door in the valley, and so came back.
[16] And the chiefs had no knowledge of where I had been or what I was
doing; and I had not then said anything to the Jews or to the priests or
the great ones or the chiefs or the rest of those who were doing the work.
[17] Then I said to them, You see what a bad condition we are in; how
Jerusalem is a waste, and its doorways burned with fire: come, let us get
to work, building up the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer be put
to shame. [18] Then I gave them an account of how the hand of my God was on
me, helping me; and of the king's words which he had said to me. And they
said, Let us get to work on the building. So they made their hands strong
for the good work. [19] But Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant,
the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, hearing of it, made sport of us,
laughing at us and saying, What are you doing? will you go against the
king? [20] Then answering them I said, The God of heaven, he will be our
help; so we his servants will go on with our building: but you have no part
or right or any name in Jerusalem.
