Chapter 2

Nehemias obtaining commission from king Artaxerxes cometh to Jerusalem: ℣.11 secretly vieweth the broken walls and ruins of the city, ℣.17 and exhorteth all the Jews to the re-edifying thereof.

1. 1

   And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king: and there was wine before him, and I lifted up the wine, and gave to the king: and I was as it were languishing before his face.

2. 2

   And the king said to me: Why is thy countenance sad, whereas I do not see thee sick? This is not without cause, but some evil I know not what, is in thy heart. And I was very much & exceedingly afraid:

3. 3

   and I said to the king: O king for ever mayst thou live: why should not my countenance be heavy, because the city of the house of the sepulchres of my fathers is desolate, & the gates thereof are burnt with fire?

4. 4

   And the king said to me: For what thing makest thou request? And I prayed the God of heaven,

5. 5

   and I said to the king: If it seem good to the king, and if thy servant do please before thy face, that thou send me into Jewry to the city of the sepulchre of my father, & I will build it.

6. 6

   And the king said to me, & the queen that sat by him: Unto what time will thy journey be, and when wilt thou return? And it pleased before the king, and he sent me: and I appointed him a time.

7. 7

   And I said to the king: If it seem good to the king, let him give me letters to the governors of the country beyond the River, that they conduct me, till I come into Jewry:

8. 8

   and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, to give me timber that I may cover the gates of the tower of the house, and the walls of the city, and the house that I shall enter into. And the king gave according to the good hand of my God with me.

9. 9

   And I came to the dukes of the country beyond the River, and gave them the king's letters. And the king had sent with me captains of soldiers, and horsemen.

10. 10

    And Sanaballat an Horonite, and Tobias a servant an Ammanite heard it, and were grieved with great affliction, that a man was come, which sought the prosperity of the children of Israel.

11. 11

    And I came to Jerusalem and was there three days.

12. 12

    And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me, and I told not any man what God had put in my heart to do in Jerusalem, and there was no beast with me, but the beast whereon I sat.

13. 13

    And I went out by the gate of the valley by night, and before the fountain of the dragon, and to the gate of the dung, and I viewed the wall of Jerusalem broken down, and the gates thereof consumed with fire.

14. 14

    And I passed to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's conduit, and there was no place for the beast where on I sat, to pass.

15. 15

    And I went up by the torrent in the night, and viewed the wall, and going back I came to the gate of the valley, and returned.

16. 16

    But the magistrates knew not whither I went, or what I did: yea and to the Jews, and the Priests, and the nobles, and the magistrates, and the rest that did the work, until then I had shewed nothing.

17. 17

    And I said to them: You know the affliction wherein we are, because Jerusalem is made desolate, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire: Come, and let us build the walls of Jerusalem, and let us be no longer a reproach.

18. 18

    And I shewed them the hand of my God, that it was good with me, and the king's words, which he had spoken to me, and I said: Let us rise, and let us build. And their hands were encouraged in good.

19. 19

    But Sanaballat the Horonite, and Tobias the servant an Ammanite, and Gosem an Arabian heard of it, and they scorned us, and despised us, and said: What is this thing that you do? Why do you rebel against the king?

20. 20

    And I answered them, and said to them: The God of heaven he helpeth us, and we are his servants: let us rise and build: but you have no part, nor justice, nor memory in Jerusalem.