尼希米記 2
1 在阿塔薛西斯王二十年「尼散」月，輪到我掌酒時，我拿起酒來，獻給國王。我不願在王面前現出憂愁，
It happened in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artachshasta the king, when wine was before me, that I took up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before in his presence.
2 王卻問我說：「你不像有病，為什麼面帶愁容﹖沒有別的，你心中一定有愁事! 」我很是驚慌，
The king said to me, "Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart." Then I was very much afraid.
3 便向君王說：「大王萬歲! 我祖先墳墓所在的城池，成了廢墟，城門為火焚毀，我怎能不面帶愁容呢﹖」
I said to the king, "Let the king live forever. Why shouldn't my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?"
4 王問我說：「你要求什麼﹖」我向天上的天主祈禱之後，
Then the king said to me, "For what do you make request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.
5 回答君王說：「大王若看著好，你僕人在你面前若獲得寵遇，就打發我回猶大去，到我祖先墳墓所在的城去，重修那城。」
I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may build it."
6 那時，皇后也在旁坐著；王便向我說：「你旅行需要多久﹖你幾時能回來﹖」我向君王說了一個時期；王以為好，就准許我去。
The king said to me (the queen was also sitting by him), "For how long shall your journey be? And when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
7 我又向王說：「大王若看著好，請賜我一詔書，通知河西州長放我通行，直到猶大；
Moreover I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah;
8 另一詔書，通知護守王家園林的阿撒夫，令他給我木料，為做聖殿堡壘的門戶、城牆和我要住的房舍之用。」賴我的天主慈善的手扶助我，君王都賜給了我。
and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into." The king granted my requests, because of the good hand of my God on me.
9 我一來到河西州長那裏，便向他們呈上君王的詔書。同時君王還派了隊長和馬兵協助我。
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.
10 曷龍人桑巴拉特和作臣僕的阿孟人托彼雅，聽說此事，很不高興有人來為以色列子民謀圖福利。
When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, because a man had come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
11 我到了耶路撒冷，在那裏停留了三天之後，
So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
12 夜間，我和跟隨我的幾個人起來；當時我並沒有告訴任何人，有關我的天主激發我的心，要為耶路撒冷所作的事；除了我騎的一頭牲口外，也沒有別的牲口。
I arose in the night, I and some few men with me. And I told no one what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem; neither was there any animal with me, except the animal that I rode on.
13 夜間我出來，經過谷門到了龍泉前，又到了糞門，觀察耶路撒冷城牆那裏有缺口，並見城門已被火焚毀。
I went out by night by the Valley Gate, even toward the Serpent's Well, and to the Dung Gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates were consumed with fire.
14 以後，又到了泉門，到了王池，但那地方不能騎我的牲口過去，
Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King's Pool, but there was no place for the animal that was under me to pass.
15 遂在夜間，由山澗攀登而上，視察了城垣，然後轉身，由谷門進來，回了家。
Then went I up in the night by the wadi, and viewed the wall; and I turned back, and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.
16 我到過那裏，或作什麼，官員都不知道；直到此時，我也沒有告訴過猶太人、司祭、權貴、官員和其他工作人員。
The rulers did not know where 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 who did the work.
17 於是我向他們說：「你們都清楚我們所處的苦境：耶路撒冷成了廢墟，城門為火焚毀。來，讓我們重修耶路撒冷的城垣，免得再受人恥笑! 」
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, let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we won't be disgraced."
18 隨後，我又向他們報告：我的天主慈善的手怎樣扶助了我，以及君王向我說過什麼話。他們遂說道：「起來，大家一同修建! 」眾人勇氣倍增，遂著手進行。
I told them of the hand of my God which was good on me, as also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. They said, "Let's rise up and build." So they strengthened their hands for the good work.
19 當曷龍人桑巴拉特、作臣僕的阿孟人托彼雅，和阿剌伯人革笙聽說這事，就譏笑我們，侮辱我們說：「你們在那裏幹什麼﹖要背叛君王嗎﹖」
But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they ridiculed us, and despised us, and said, "What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?"
20 我答覆他們說：「天上的天主必要使我們成功；我們是他的僕役，要動工興建；至於你們，在耶路撒冷無分無權，也無可留念的事物。」
Then answered I them, and said to them, "The God of heaven will prosper us. Therefore we, his servants, will arise and build; but you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem."
