Book 37 : KETUVIM - NEHEMIAH - Chapter 002
02:001
And it came to pass 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 unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence
02:002
And 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
02:003
And I 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?
02:004
Then the king said unto me: 'For what dost thou make
request?' So I prayed to the G-d of heaven
02:005
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.
02:006
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
02:007
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 let me pass
through till I come unto Judah
02:008
and a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's park, that
he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the castle which
appertaineth 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
G-d upon me
02:009
Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave
them the king's letters. Now the king had sent with me captains of the army and
horsemen
02:010
And when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant,
the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, for that there was come
a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel
02:011
So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days
02:012
And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me;
neither told I any man what my G-d put into my heart to do for Jerusalem;
neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon
02:013
And I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward
the dragon's well, and to the dung gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem,
which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire
02:014
Then I went on to the fountain gate and to the king's
pool; but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass
02:015
Then went I up in the night in the valley, and viewed the
wall; and I turned back, and entered by the valley gate, and so returned
02:016
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
02:017
Then said I unto them: 'Ye see the evil case 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.
02:018
And I told them of the hand of my G-d which was good upon
me; as also of 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 the good work
02:019
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?
02:020
Then answered I them, and said unto them: 'The G-d 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.
Book 37 : KETUVIM - NEHEMIAH - Chapter 002
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