1 ¶ Now it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him: I took up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not previously been sad in his presence.

2 Therefore the king asked me, Why is your countenance sad, seeing that you are not sick? this is nothing else than sorrow of heart. Then I was very much afraid,

3 And said to the king, Let the king live for ever: why should I not be sad, when the city, the place where my fathers are buried, is in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?

4 Then the king said to me, What do you want? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

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

6 And the king said to me, (the queen also sitting by him,) How long will you be gone? and when will you be back? So I gave him a date, and the king approved of my going.

7 I also 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 to Judah;

8 And 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 fortress near the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy. And the king granted what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.

9 ¶ Then I went to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent army officers and horsemen with me.

10 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, they were greatly distressed that a man had come seeking the welfare of the children of Israel.

11 So I arrived in Jerusalem, and was there three days.

12 Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; and did not tell anyone what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: nor was there any animal with me, except the one that I rode on.

13 And I went out by night by the valley gate, toward the dragon’s well, and the dung gate, and inspected the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates that were destroyed by fire.

14 Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king’s pool: but there was no room for the animal I was riding to pass through.

15 So went I up the valley by the brook at night, and inspected the wall, then turned back, and entered through the valley gate, and so returned.

16 And the magistrates did not know where I went, or what I did; nor had I yet told it to the Jews, or to the priests, or to the nobles, or to the officials, or to the rest who did the work.

17 Then said I to them, You see the bad situation that we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire: come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we are no longer a disgrace.

18 Then I told them of how the hand of my God was upon me for good; and also the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.

19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they ridiculed us, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that you do? will you rebel against the king?

20 Then I replied to them, saying, The God of heaven, will give us success; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but you have no portion, or right, or memorial, in Jerusalem.