Nehemiah:2

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* Now I was cupbearer to the king . And it came to pass in the month Nisan , in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king , when wine was before him , that I took up the wine , and gave it to the king . Now I had not [formerly ] been sad in * And the king said to me , Why is thy countenance sad , seeing thou are not sick ? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart . Then I was very much afraid . * And I said to the king , Let the king live forever . Why should not my countenance be sad , when the city , the place of my fathers ' sepulchers , lays waste , and the gates of it are consumed with fire ? * Then the king said to me , For what do thou make request ? So I prayed to the God of heaven . * And I said to the king , If it please the king , and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight , that thou would send me to Judah , to the city of my fathers ' sepulchers , that I may build it . * And the king said to me (the queen also sitting by him ), For how long shall thy journey be ? And when will thou return ? So it pleased the king to send me , and I set him a time . * Moreover I said to the king , If it please the king , let letters be given to me to the governors beyond the River , that they may let me pass through till I come to Judah , * 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 castle which appertains to the house , and for the wall of the city , and for the house that I shall enter into . And * Then I came to the governors beyond the River , and gave them the king 's letters . Now the king had sent with me captains of the army and horsemen . * And when Sanballat the Horonite , and Tobiah the servant , the Ammonite , heard of it , it grieved them exceedingly that there came a man to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel . * So I came to Jerusalem , and was there three days . * And I arose in the night , I and some few men with me . I neither told any man what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem , nor was there any beast with me except the beast that I rode upon . * And I went out by night by the valley gate , even toward the jackal 's well and to the dung gate , and viewed the walls of Jerusalem , which were broken down , and the gates of it were consumed with fire . * Then I went on to the fountain gate and to the king 's pool , but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass . * Then I went up in the night by the brook , and viewed the wall . And I turned back , and entered by the valley gate , and so returned . * And the rulers did not know where I went , or what I did , neither had I as yet told it to the Jews , nor to the priests , nor to the ranking men , nor to the rulers , nor to the rest who did the work . * Then I said to them , Ye see the evil condition that we are in , how Jerusalem lays waste , and the gates of it are burned with fire . Come , and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem that we be no more a reproach . * And I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me , as also of the king 's words that he had spoken to me . And they said , Let us rise up and build . So they strengthened their hands for the good [work ]. * But when Sanballat the Horonite , and Tobiah the servant , the Ammonite , and Geshem the Arabian , heard it , they laughed us to scorn , and despised us , and said , What is this thing that ye do ? Will ye rebel against the king ? * Then I answered them , and said to them , The God of heaven , he will prosper us . Therefore we his servants will arise and build , but ye have no portion , nor right , nor memorial , in Jerusalem .

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