Nehemiah 2

1And it happened in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.

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

3I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies in ruins and its gates have been consumed by fire?”

4Then the king said to me, “What is it that you are seeking?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.

5Then I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' graves, so that I may rebuild it."

6Then the king said to me, while the queen was sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a time.

7Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors Beyond the River, so that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah.”

8and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he should give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress by the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I will occupy. And the king gave them to me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

9So I came to the governors Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me army officers and horsemen.

10When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it was very displeasing to them that a man had come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

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

12So I arose in the night, I and a few men with me, and I had not told anyone what my God was putting into my heart to do for Jerusalem. And there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding.

13So I went out by night through the Valley Gate, toward the Dragon Spring and toward the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and its gates that had been consumed by fire.

14Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no place for the animal under me to pass.

15So I went up by the wadi at night and inspected the wall. Then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and returned.

16But the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and until then I had not told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest who were doing the work.

17Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer be a reproach.”

18So I told them that the hand of my God was good upon me, and also the words of the king that he had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work.

19But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Geshem the Arab heard, they mocked us and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

20Then I answered them and said, “The God of heaven, he will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build. But you have no share or right or memorial in Jerusalem.”