Nehemiah 2
1 After King Artaxerxes [had been ruling the Persian Empire] for almost 20 years, (during the spring/before the hot season) of that year, when it was time to serve wine to him [during a feast], I took the wine and gave it to him. I had never looked sad when I was in front of him before, [but on that day he saw that I looked very sad].
Now it happened that, in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of king Artaxerxes, wine was before him; and I lifted up the wine, and I gave it to the king. And I was like someone languishing before his face.
2 So he asked me, “Why are you sad? [I know that] you are not sick. It must be that you are troubled about something.” Then I was very afraid, [because it was not proper to be sad when I came to the king] (OR, [because I was worried what the king would do to me if he refused to do what I was about to request him to do]).
And the king said to me: “Why is your expression sad, though you do not appear to be sick? This is not without cause, but some evil, I know not what, is in your heart.” And I was struck with an exceedingly great fear.
3 I replied, “Your majesty, I hope you will live a very long time! But (how can I prevent myself from being sad, because the city where my ancestors are buried [has been destroyed] and is in ruins?/I cannot keep myself from looking sad, because the city where my ancestors are buried [has been destroyed and] is in ruins.) [RHQ] [Even] the city gates have been completely burned.”
And I said to the king: “O king, live forever. Why should my expression not be mournful, since the city of the house of the sepulchers of my father is desolate, and its gates have been burned with fire?”
4 The king replied, “What do you want me to do [for you]?” I prayed [silently] to our God [who is/rules] in heaven.
And the king said to me: “What would you request?” And I prayed to the God of heaven.
5 Then I replied, “If you are willing [to do it], and if I have pleased you, send me to the city [of Jerusalem] in Judah [province] where my ancestors are buried, in order that I may [help people to] rebuild the city.”
And I said to the king: “If it seems good to the king, and if your servant is pleasing before your face: that you would send me into Judea, to the city of the sepulcher of my father. And I will rebuild it.”
6 While the queen was sitting beside the king, he asked, [“If I allow you to go, ] how long will you be gone? When will you return?” [I told the king how long I would be gone, and] the king gave me permission to go, and I told him what day [I wanted to leave].
And the king said to me, with the queen who was sitting beside him: “Until what time will your journey be, and when will you return?” And it was pleasing before the countenance of the king, and so he sent me. And I established a time for him.
7 I also said to the king, “If you are willing to do it, write letters for me to take to the governors of the province west of the [Euphrates] River. Tell them to allow me to travel safely [through their province] until I arrive in Judah.
And I said to the king: “If it seems good to the king, may he give me letters to the governors of the region beyond the river, so that they may lead me through, until I arrive in Judea,
8 Also, [please write] a letter to Asaph, the man who takes care of your forest [in that area], telling him to give me timber to make the beams to support the gates of the fortress that is near the temple, and timber for making the walls of the city, and for building the house in which I [will live].” The king did what I requested him to do, because my God was graciously/kindly (helping/acting for) me.
and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, so that he may give me timber, in order that I may be able to cover the gates of the tower of the house, and the walls of the city, and the house that I will enter.” And the king granted to me in accord with the good hand of my God, who is with me.
9 [After I got ready, I left to travel to Judah]. The king sent some army officers and soldiers riding on horses to accompany me, [to protect me]. When I came to where the governors of the provinces west of the [Euphrates] River lived, I gave them the letters that the king had written.
And I went to the governors of the region beyond the river, and I gave them the letters of the king. Now the king had sent with me military leaders and horsemen.
10 But when [two government officials, ] Sanballat from [a village near] Horon and Tobiah from the Ammon [people-group], heard that I had arrived, they were very angry that someone had come to help the Israeli people.
And Sanballat, a Horonite, and the servant Tobiah, an Ammonite, heard this. And they were saddened, with a great affliction, that a man had arrived who was seeking the prosperity of the sons of Israel.
11 When I arrived in Jerusalem, I did not tell anyone what thoughts God had given to me about what I should do there. Three days after I arrived in Jerusalem, I went out of the city in the evening, taking a few other men with me. I was riding a donkey; we had no other animals with us.
And I arrived at Jerusalem, and I was there for three days.
And I got up in the night, I and a few men with me. And I did not reveal to anyone what God had placed in my heart to do in Jerusalem. And there was no animal with me, except the animal on which I was sitting.
13 We left the city, going out through the Valley Gate, then past the well called the Jackal (OR, Dragon’s) Well, and then past the gate called the Rubbish/Garbage Gate. We inspected all the walls that had been broken down and all the gates that had been burned down.
And I departed in the night through the gate of the valley, and before the fountain of the dragon, and toward the dung gate. And I considered the wall of Jerusalem, which was broken apart, and its gates, which had been consumed by fire.
14 Then we went to the Fountain Gate and to the pool called the King’s Pool, but my donkey could not get through [the narrow opening] (OR, [the rubble]).
And I continued on to the gate of the fountain, and to the aqueduct of the king. And there was no room for the beast on which I was sitting to pass through.
15 So we turned back and went along the [Kidron] Valley. We inspected the wall there before we turned back/around and entered the city again at the Valley Gate.
And so I climbed up in the night along the torrent, and I considered the wall. And turning back, I went by the gate of the valley, and I returned.
16 The [city] officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because I had not told anyone about what I planned to do. I had not said anything about it to the Jewish leaders or the officials or the priests or any of the others who would be helping me in the work [that I wanted to do].
Now the magistrates did not know where I had gone, or what I had done. For I had revealed nothing, even to that point in time, to the Jews, or to the priests, or to the nobles, or to the magistrates, or to the others who were doing the work.
17 But now I said to them, “You all know very well the terrible things [that have happened to] our city. The city is ruined; even the gates are burned down. So we should rebuild the city wall. If we do that, we will no longer feel humiliated/disgraced.”
And so I said to them: “You know the affliction in which we are, because Jerusalem is desolate, and its gates have been consumed by fire. Come, and let us rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and let us no longer be in disgrace.”
18 Then I told them about how God had kindly/graciously helped me [when I talked to the king], and what the king had said to me. They immediately replied, “Let’s start rebuilding!” So they started to do this good work.
And I revealed to them how the hand of my God was with me for good, and the words of the king, which he had spoken to me. And I said: “Let us rise up, and build.” And their hands were strengthened for good.
19 But when Sanballat, Tobiah, and Gershom the Arab [king of the Kedar region] heard about what we planned to do, they made fun of us and ridiculed us. They said, “What is this work that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king [again]?” [RHQ]
But Sanballat, a Horonite, and the servant Tobiah, an Ammonite, and Geshem, an Arab, heard of it. And they ridiculed and disparaged us, and they said: “What is this thing that you are doing? Could you be rebelling against the king?”
20 But I replied, “Our God [who is/rules] in heaven will help our plans to succeed. But as for you, you have no right to decide anything about this city, because you have not participated in what has happened in this city in previous years.”
And I replied to them a word, and I said to them: “The God of heaven himself is helping us, and we are his servants. Let us rise up and build. But there is no portion, or justice, or remembrance in Jerusalem for you.”
