CHAPTER 2
1 And it was done in the month of Nisan, that is, April, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, the king, and wine was before him, and I took up the wine, and I gave it to the king, and I was as languishing before his face.
2 And the king said to me, Why is thy cheer sorry, or heavy, since I see not thee sick? This is not without cause; but I know not what evil is in thine heart. And I dreaded full greatly;
3 and I said to the king, King, live thou without end; why should not my cheer mourn? for the city of the house of the sepulchres of my father[s] is deserted, either forsaken, and the gates thereof be burnt with fire.
4 And the king said to me, For what thing askest thou? And I prayed God of heaven,
5 and I said to the king, If it seemeth good to the king, and if it pleaseth thy servants which be before thy face, I beseech thee, that thou send me into Judah, to the city of the sepulchres of my fathers, and I shall rebuild it.
6 And the king said to me, and the queen sat beside him, Unto what time shall thy way be, and when shalt thou turn again? And it pleased to the king, and he sent me forth, and I set to the king a time of coming again;
7 and I said to the king, If it seemeth good to the king, give he epistles, or letters, to me to the dukes of the country beyond the flood, that they lead me over, till I come into Judah;
8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he give trees to me, that I may cover the gates of the tower of the house, and of the wall of the city, and the house, into which I shall enter. And the king gave the letters to me, by the good hand of my God with me.
9 And I came to the dukes of the country beyond the flood, and I gave to them the letters of the king. Soothly the king had sent with me the princes of knights, and horsemen.
10 And Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah, the servant, the Ammonite, heard, and they were sorrowful by great torment, that a man was come, that sought prosperity of the sons of Israel.
11 And I came into Jerusalem, and I was there three days.
12 And I rose up by night, I and a few men with me, and I showed not to any man, what thing God had given in mine heart, that I would do in Jerusalem; and there was no work beast with me, but the beast that I sat on.
13 And I went out by the gate of the valley by night, and before the well of the dragon, and to the gate of dung; and I beheld the wall of Jerusalem destroyed, and the gates thereof wasted by fire.
14 And I passed forth to the gate of the well, and to the water conduit of the king, and there was no place for to pass, to the horse, that I sat upon;
15 and in the night I went up by the strand [or stream], and I beheld the wall, and I turned again, and came to the gate of the valley, and I went again to my lodging.
16 Forsooth the magistrates knew not, whither I had gone, either what I would do; but also I had not showed anything to the Jews, and [the] priests, and to the best men, and [the] magistrates, and to [the] other men that made the work, till that time.
17 And I said to them, Ye know the torment, in which we Jews be, for Jerusalem is deserted, and the gates thereof be wasted with fire; come ye, build we [up] the walls of Jerusalem, and be we no more a shame or in shame.
18 And I showed to them the hand of my God, that it was good with me, and the words of the king, which he spake to me; and I said, Rise we up, and build we; and the hands of them were comforted in good.
19 And Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah, the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem of Arabs, heard this, and they scorned us, and despised; and said, What is this thing, that ye do? whether ye rebel against the king?
20 And I answered to them a word, and I said to them, God himself of heaven helpeth us, and we be his servants; rise we up, and build; forsooth part, and rightwiseness, and mind, in Jerusalem, is not to you.