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NE-2:1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth
year of
Artaxerxes the king, [that] wine [was] before him: and I took up
the wine, and
gave [it] unto the king. Now I had not been [beforetime] sad in
his presence.
NE-2:2 Wherefore the king said unto me, Why [is] thy
countenance sad, seeing
thou [art] not sick? this [is] nothing [else] but sorrow of
heart. Then I was
very sore afraid,
NE-2:3 And 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,
[lieth] waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?
NE-2:4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make
request? So I
prayed to the God of heaven.
NE-2:5 And I said unto the king, If 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 build it.
NE-2:6 And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by
him,) For how
long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it
pleased the king
to send me; and I set him a time.
NE-2:7 Moreover 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;
NE-2:8 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 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 God upon
me.
NE-2:9 Then 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.
NE-2:10 When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant,
the Ammonite,
heard [of it], it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a
man to seek
the welfare of the children of Israel.
NE-2:11 So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
NE-2:12 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me;
neither told 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.
NE-2:13 And 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.
NE-2:14 Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the
king's pool:
but [there was] no place for the beast [that was] under me to
pass.
NE-2:15 Then 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 [so]
returned.
NE-2:16 And the rulers 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.
NE-2:17 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: come, and
let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a
reproach.
NE-2:18 Then I told them of 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 strengthened their hands for [this] good
[work].
NE-2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant,
the
Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard [it], they laughed us to
scorn, and
despised us, and said, What [is] this thing that ye do? will ye
rebel against
the king?
NE-2:20 Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God 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.
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