¹In the month Nisan , in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king , when wine was before him , I picked up the wine , and gave it to the king . Now I had not been sad before in his presence .

²The 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 .

³I 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?”

⁴Then the king said to me , “What is your request ?”

So I prayed to the God of heaven .

⁵I said to the king , “If it pleases the king , and if your servant has found favor in your sight , I ask that you would send me to Judah , to the city of my fathers’ tombs , that I may build it .”

⁶The king said to me (the queen was also sitting by him ), “How long will your journey be ? When will you return ?”

So it pleased the king to send me , and I set a time for him .

⁷Moreover 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 ;

⁸and 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 will occupy.”

The king granted my requests, because of the good hand of my God on me .

⁹Then I came to the governors beyond the River , and gave them the king ’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me .

¹⁰When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard of it , it grieved them exceedingly , because a man had come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel .

¹¹So I came to Jerusalem , and was there three days .

¹²I arose in the night , I and a few men with me . I didn’t tell anyone what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem . There wasn’t any animal with me except the animal that I rode on .

¹³I went out by night by the valley gate toward the jackal’s well , then to the dung gate ; and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem , which were broken down , and its gates were consumed with fire.

¹⁴Then I went on to the spring gate and to the king ’s pool , but there was no place for the animal that was under me to pass .

¹⁵Then I went up in the night by the brook and inspected the wall ; and I turned back , and entered by the valley gate , and so returned .

¹⁶The rulers didn’t know where I went , or what I did . I had not 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 .

¹⁷Then I said to them , “You see the bad situation that we are in , how Jerusalem lies waste , and its gates are burned with fire . Come , let ’s build up the wall of Jerusalem , that we won’t be disgraced.”

¹⁸I told them about the hand of my God which was good on me , and also about 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 .

¹⁹But when Sanballat the Horonite , Tobiah the Ammonite servant , 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 ?”

²⁰Then I answered 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 .”