March
445 B.C. Nehemiah 2.1.
Nehemiah sets himself towards going to Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 2
1599
Geneva Bible (GNV)
(Introductory Notes: 2 1
After Nehemiah had obtained letters of Artaxerxes, 11 he came to Jerusalem, 17
and built the walls.)
1 Now in the month [a]Nisan
in the twentieth year of king [b]Artaxerxes,
the wine stood before him, and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the
king. Now I was not before time sad in his presence.
2 And
the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick?
this is nothing, but sorrow of heart. Then was I sore afraid,
3 And I
said to the King, God save the king forever: why should not my countenance be
sad, when the city and house of the sepulchers of my fathers lieth
waste, and the gates thereof are devoured with fire?
4 And
the king said unto me, For what thing doest thou require? Then I prayed [c]to
the God of heaven,
5 And
said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor
in thy sight, I desire that thou wouldest send me to Judah unto the city
of the sepulchers of my fathers, that I may build it.
6 And
the King said unto me, (the Queen also sitting by him:) How long shall thy
journey be? and when wilt thou come again? So it pleased the king, and he sent
me, and I set him a time.
7 After
I said unto the King, If it please the King, let them give me letters to the
captains beyond the [d]River,
that they may convey me over, till I come into Judah,
8 And letters
unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s [e]park,
that he may give me timber to build the gates of the palace (which appertained
to the house) and for the walls of the city, and for the house that I shall
enter into. And the king gave me according to [f]the
good hand of my God upon me.
9 ¶ Then
came I to the captains beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. And
the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.
10 But [g]Sanballat
the Horonite, and Tobiah a servant an Ammonite heard it, and it grieved them
sore, that there was come a man which sought the wealth of the children of
Israel.
11 So I
came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
12 And I
rose in the night, I, and a few men with me: for I told no man, what God had
put in mine heart to do at Jerusalem, and there was not a beast with me, save
the beast whereon I rode.
13 And I
went out by night by the gate of the valley, and came before the dragon
well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, how they were
broken down, and the ports thereof devoured with the fire.
14 Then I
went forth unto the gate of the [h]fountain,
and to the king’s fish pool, and there was no room for the beast that was under
me to pass.
15 Then
went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and
coming back, I entered by the gate of the valley, and returned.
16 And
the rulers knew not whither I was gone, nor what I did, neither did I as yet
tell it unto the Jews, nor to the Priests, nor to the noble men, nor to the
rulers, nor to the rest that labored in the work.
17 Afterward
I said unto them, Ye see the misery that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste,
and the gates thereof are burnt with fire: come, and let us build the wall of
Jerusalem, that we be no more [i]a
reproach.
18 Then I
told them of the hand of my God, (which was good over me) and also of the
king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise, and build.
So they [j]strengthened
their hand to good.
19 But
when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant an Ammonite, and [k]Geshem
the Arabian heard it, they mocked us, and despised us, and said, What a thing
is this that ye do? Will ye [l]rebel
against the king?
20 Then
answered I them, and said to them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us, and
we his servants will rise up and build: but as for you, ye have no portion nor
right, nor [m]memorial
in Jerusalem.
Footnotes:
- Nehemiah 2:1 Which was the first month of the year, and containeth part of March and part of April.
- Nehemiah 2:1 Who is also called Darius, read Ezra 7:1, and was the son of Hystaspis.
- Nehemiah 2:4 I desired God in mine heart to prosper mine enterprise.
- Nehemiah 2:7 Or, Euphrates.
- Nehemiah 2:8 Or, Paradise.
- Nehemiah 2:8 As God moved me to ask, and as he gave me good success therein.
- Nehemiah 2:10 These were great enemies to the Jews, and labored always both by force and subtlety to overcome them, and Tobiah, because his wife was a Jewess, had advertisement ever of their affairs, and so wrought them great trouble.
- Nehemiah 2:14 Or, conduit.
- Nehemiah 2:17 That is, contemned of other nations, as though God had forsaken us.
- Nehemiah 2:18 They were encouraged, and gave themselves to do well, and to travel in this worthy enterprise.
- Nehemiah 2:19 These were three chief governors under the king of Persia beyond Euphrates.
- Nehemiah 2:19 Thus the wicked when they will burden the children of God, ever lay treason unto their charge, both because it maketh them most odious to the world, and also stirreth the hatred of princes most against them.
- Nehemiah 2:20 Neither are ye of the number of the children of God (to whom he hath appointed this city only) neither did any of your predecessors ever fear God.
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