And it came to pass in the monthNisan, in the twentiethyear of Artaxerxes the king, thatwine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not beenbeforetime sad in his presence.
Wherefore the kingsaidunto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeingthou art not sick? this is nothingelse but sorrow of heart. Then I was verysoreafraid,
And saidunto the king, Let the kinglive for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’sepulchres, liethwaste, and the gatesthereof are consumedwithfire?
And I saidunto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servanthavefoundfavour in thy sight, thatthouwouldestsend me untoJudah, unto the city of my fathers’sepulchres, that I may build it.
And the kingsaidunto me, (the queenalsositting by him,) For how longshall thy journey be? and whenwiltthoureturn? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
Moreover I saidunto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governorsbeyond the river, thatthey may convey me overtill I comeintoJudah;
And a letteruntoAsaph the keeper of the king’sforest, that he may give me timber to makebeams for the gates of the palacewhichappertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the housethat I shallenterinto. And the kinggranted me, according to the goodhand of my God upon me.
WhenSanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grievedthemexceedinglythatthere was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neithertold I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beastwith me, save the beastthat I rodeupon.
And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, evenbefore the dragonwell, and to the dungport, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, whichwerebrokendown, and the gatesthereofwereconsumedwithfire.
And the rulersknew not whither 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 restthat did the work.
Thensaid I untothem, Ye see the distressthat we are in, how Jerusalemliethwaste, and the gatesthereof are burnedwithfire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.
Then I toldthem of the hand of my God which was goodupon me; as also the king’swordsthat he had spokenunto me. And theysaid, Let us rise up and build. So theystrengthenedtheirhands for thisgoodwork.
But whenSanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, theylaughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is thisthingthat ye do? will ye rebelagainst the king?
Thenanswered I them, and saiduntothem, The God of heaven, he willprosper us; therefore we his servantswillarise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.