King James Version

1 And it was in the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before me, and I took the wine and gave it to the king, and I had not been sad before him. 2 And the king said to me, "Why is your face sad, though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart, and I am very much afraid." 3 And I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my ancestors’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed by fire?" 4 And the king said to me, "What is this that you are seeking?" And I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, "If it is good for the king, and if your servant has found favor in your eyes, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors' graves, and I will rebuild it." 6 And the king said to me, "How long will your journey be, and when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a time. 7 And I said to the king, "If it is good for the king, letters will be given to me for the governors across the river, that they may allow me to pass until I come to Judah." 8 And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the forest, that he may give me timber to strengthen the gates of the fortress which belong to the house and for the wall of the city and for the house which I will enter. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me. 9 And I will come to the fortresses beyond the river, and I will give them the king's letters, and the king sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. 10 And Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant the Ammonite heard it and it was very displeasing to them that a man had come to seek the good of the children of Israel. 11 And I will come to Jerusalem and I will be there three days. 12 I will arise at night; I am with a few men, and I did not tell any man what my God is giving to my heart to do for Jerusalem, and there is no beast with me except the beast that I am riding on. 13 I went out by the gate of the gorge at night and to the face of the dragon's spring and to the gate of the dung, and I was broken at the wall of Jerusalem which was broken through, and its gates were consumed by fire. 14 And I will pass to the gate of the eye and to the pool of the king, and there is no place for the animal to pass beneath me. 15 And I was ascending by the stream at night, and I was breaking through the wall, and I will return and I will come to the gate of the valley, and I will return. 16 And the officials did not know where I had gone and what I was doing; and for the Jews and for the priests and for the nobles and for the officials and for the rest who were doing the work, I had not yet told them. 17 And I said to them, "You see the evil that we are in, how Jerusalem is desolate and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach." 18 And I will tell them of the hand of my God, which is good upon me, and also the words of the king that he spoke to me; and they said, "Let us rise up and build," and they strengthened their hands for the good work. 19 And Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant the Ammonite and Geshem the Arabian heard it and they mocked us and despised us and said, "What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?" 20 I will return the matter and say to them, "The God of heaven will prosper us, and we are His servants; we will arise and build, and you have no part, right, or memorial in Jerusalem."