rd

Nehemiah 2

1 After Nehemiáh had obtained letters of Artaxerxes, 11 He came to Jerusalém, 17 And buylded the walles.
1.aNow in the moneth Nisan in the twentieth yere of King bAttahshashte, the wine stood before him, and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the King, now I was not before time sad in his presence.
2.And the King said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seing thou art not sicke? this is nothing, but sorrow of heart. Then was I sore afraid,
3.And I said to the King, God save the King for ever: why shulde not my countenance be sad, when the city and house of the sepulchres of my fathers lieth waste and the gates thereof are devoured with frye?
4.And the King said unto me, For what thing doest thou require? Then I praied cto the God of heaven,
5.And said unto the King, If it please the King, and if thy servant have founde favour in thy sight, I desire that thou woldest send me to Judáh unto the citie of the sepulchres of my fathers, that I may buylde it.
6.And the King said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him) How long shal thy journey be? and when wilt thou come again? So it pleased the King, and he sent me, and I set him a time.
7.After I said unto the King, If it please the King, let them give me letters to the captaines beyond the ^River, that they may convaye me over, til I come into Judáh,
8.And letters unto Asáph the keper of the King’s ^parke, that he may give me timber to buylde the gates of the palace (which appertained to the house) and for the walles of the citie, and for the house that I shal entre into. And the King gave me according to dthe good hand of my God upon me.
9.¶ Then came I to the captaines beyond the River, and gave them the King’s letters. And the King had sent captaines of the armie and horsemen with me.
10.But eSanballát the Horonite, and Tobiáh a servant an Ammonite heard it, and it grieved them sore, that there was come a man which soght the wealth of the children of Israél.
11.So I came to Jerusalém, and was there three dayes.
12.And I rose in the night, I, and a few men with me: for I tolde no man, what God had put in mine heart to do at Jerusalém, and there was not a beast with me, save the beast whereon I rode. The people encouraged. Nehe
13.And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, and came before the draggon well, and to the dung port, and vewed the walles of Jerusalém, how they were broken down, and the ports thereof devoured with fire.
14.Then I went forth unto the gate of the ^fountain, and to the King’s fish pool, and there was no room for the beast that was under me to pass.
15.Then went I up in the night by the brook, and vewed the wall, and turned back, and coming back, I entered by the gate of the valley and returned.
16.And the rulers knew not whether I was gone, nor what I did, neither did I as yet tell it unto the Jewes, nor to the Priests, nor to the noble men, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that laboured in the work.
17.Afterward I said unto them, Ye se the miserie that we are in, how Jerusalém lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burnt with fyre: come & let us buylde the wall of Jerusalém, that we be no more fa reproach.
18.Then I told them of the hand of my God, (which was good over me) and also of the King’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise, and buylde. So they gstrengthened their hand to good.
19.But when Sanballát the Horonite, and Tobiáh the servant an Ammonite, and hGeshém the Arabian heard it, they mocked us and despised us, and said, What a thing is this that ye do? Wil ye irebell against the King?
20.Then answered I them, and said to them, The God of heaven, he wil prosper us, and we his servants wil rise up and buylde: but as for you, ye have no portion nor right, nor kmemorial in Jerusalém.

Notes

1-a.
Which was the first month of the year and contained part of March and part of April.
1-b.
Who is also called Darius, read Ezr. 7.1-12.
4-c.
I desired God in my heart to prosper my enterprise.
7-^.
Or, Euphrates.
8-^.
Or, paradise.
8-d.
As God moved me to ask, and as he gave me good success therein.
10-e.
These were great enemies to the Jews and laboured always both by force and subtlety to overcome them, and Tobiah because his wife was a Jewess, had advertisement ever of their affairs and so wrought them great trouble.
14-^.
Or, conduit.
17-f.
That is, contemned of other nations, as though God had forsaken us.
18-g.
They were encouraged and gave themselves to do well, and to travail in this worthy enterprise.
19-h.
These were three chief governors under the King of Persia beyond Euphrates.
19-i.
Thus the wicked when they will burden the children of God, ever lay treason unto their charge, both because it makes them most odious to the world, and also stirs the hatred of princes most against them.
20-k.
Neither you are of the number of the children of God (to whom he has appointed this city only) neither did any of your predeces- sors ever fear God.