Nehemiah Chapter 2

I was the king’s cupbearer.             

Neh 1:1-11

Nehemiah Sent to Jerusalem

¹ In the month Nisan, twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, wine was present, and I took it up to him. I hadn’t been sad in his presence before. ² So he asked me, “Why do you look sad, but you’re not sick? This is nothing but sadness in you.”

I was apprehensive. ³ “Long live the King! Why wouldn’t I look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins and its gates are burned?”

⁴ “What would you ask?”

I prayed to the God of heaven ⁵ and told the king, “If it pleases you, if I am pleasing to you, send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’ tombs so I can rebuild it.”

⁶ (The queen was sitting beside him.) He asked me, “How long will it take? When will you be back?”

I set a time, and he agreed to send me.

⁷ “If it pleases you, give me letters to the governors of Beyond the River to let me travel through to Judah. ⁸ Also, give me a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, to give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress that’s by the Temple, for the city wall and a house for myself.”

He granted them because my God’s good hand was on me.

Neh 2:1-8

Nehemiah Inspects the Walls of Jerusalem

⁹ I delivered the king’s letters to the governors of Beyond the River. He’d sent officers of the army and cavalry for my protection. ¹⁰ When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about it, they didn’t like it that someone had come to help the Israelites.

¹¹ I arrived at Jerusalem and was there three days. ¹² Then I and a few men got up during the night without telling anybody what God had put in my mind to do for Jerusalem. The only animal with us was the one I was riding. ¹³ I went out by the Valley Gate toward the Dragon’s Well and on to the Refuse Gate, inspecting the walls that were torn down and the gates that were burned up. ¹⁴ I passed on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there wasn’t any way for the animal I was riding to get past. ¹⁵ I went up the valley and inspected the wall. Then I went in the Valley Gate again and came back. ¹⁶ The officials didn’t know where I’d gone or what I’d done. I hadn’t told the Jews, the priests, nobles, officials, or anyone that would be doing the work.

¹⁷ Then I told them, “You can see the bad situation we’re in. Jerusalem lies in ruins; its gates are burned. Let’s rebuild the wall so we can put an end to this disgrace.” ¹⁸ I told them how God had helped me, and what the king had told me. They said, “Let’s build”; so they started on the good work. ¹⁹ But when Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and despised us, “What are you doing? Revolting against the king?” ²⁰ I answered them, “The God of heaven will give us success. We, his servants, will do the building; you don’t have any part, any legal or historical claim in Jerusalem.”

Neh 2:9-20