Chapter 2. And it came to pass in the month of Nisan In the 20th year of King artaxerxes When wine was before him that I took the Wine and gave it to the king Now I had never been sad in his presence Before The king said to me Why is your face sad since you are not Sick This is nothing but sorrow of heart So I became dreadfully afraid and said To the king May the King live forever Why should my face not be sad when the City the place of my father's tombs lies Waste and its gates are burned with fire Then the king said to me What do you request So I prayed to the god of Heaven And I said to the king If it pleases the king and if your Servant has found favor in your sight I ask that you send me to Judah to the City of my father's tombs that I may Rebuild it Then the king said to me the queen also Sitting beside him How long will your journey be and when Will you return So it pleased the king to send me and I Set him a time Furthermore I said to the king
If it pleases the king let letters be Given to me for the governors of the Region beyond the river that they must Permit me to pass through till I come to Judah And a letter to asaph The Keeper of the King's Forest that he must give me Timber to make beams for the gates of The Citadel which pertains to the temple For the city wall and for the house that I will occupy And the King granted them to me According to the good hand of my God Upon me Then I went to the governors in the Region beyond the river and gave them The king's letters Now the king had sent captains of the Army and Horsemen with me When San balat the horror night and Tobiah the ammonite official heard of it They were deeply Disturbed that a man Had come to seek the well-being of the Children of Israel So I came to Jerusalem and was there Three days Then I arose in the night I and a few Men with me I told no one what my God had put in my Heart to do at Jerusalem Nor was there any animal with me except The one on which I rode And I went out by night through the Valley gate to the serpent dwell and the
Refuse gate and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its Gates which were burned with fire Then I went onto the fountain gate and To the king's pool But there was no room for the animal Under me to pass So I went up in the Night by The Valley And viewed the wall Then I turned back and entered by the Valley gate and so returned And the officials did not know where I Had gone or what I had done I had not yet told the Jews the priests The Nobles the officials all the others Who did the work Then I said to them You see the distress that we are in how Jerusalem lies waste and its gates are Burned with fire Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer be a Reproach And I told them of the hand of my God Which had been good upon me and also of The king's words that he had spoken to Me So they said Let us rise up and build Then they set their hands to this good Work But when sun balat the horror night Tobiah the ammonite official and gisham The Arab heard of it
They laughed at us and despised us and Said What is this thing that you are doing Will you rebel against the king So I answered them and said to them The god of Heaven himself will prosper Us Therefore we his servants will arise and Build But you have no Heritage all right or Memorial in Jerusalem