Nehemiah:2

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* And it happened in the month Nisan , in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king , that wine was before him . And I took the wine and gave to the king . And I had never been sad to his face . * And the king said to me , Why is your face sad , since you are not sick ? This is nothing 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 face be sad when the place of my fathers ' tombs , the City , lies waste and its gates are burned with fire ? * Then the king said to me , For what do you ask ? So I prayed to the God of Heaven , * and I said to the king , If it please 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 ' tombs , so that I might build it . * And the king said to me , the queen also sitting beside him , For how long shall your journey be ? And when will you return ? So it pleased the king , and he sent me ; and I set him a time . * An I said to the king , If it is good to the king , let letters be given me to the governors Beyond the River , so that they may let me go through until I come to Judah ; * also a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king 's forest , so that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which is for the house , and for the city wall , and for the house into which I shall enter . And the king granted it to me , according to the good hand of my God on me . * Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River , and gave them the king 's letters . And the king had sent army commanders and horsemen with me . * And Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant the Ammonite , heard . And it grieved them greatly that a man had come to seek the good of the sons of Israel . * So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days . * And I rose up in the night , I and a few men with me . And I told no man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem . And there was no animal with me except the animal that I rode on . * And I went out by night by the Valley Gate , even before the Jackal Fountain , and to the Dung Gate . And I examined the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down , and its gates which were burned with fire . * Then I passed on to the Fountain Gate , and to the King 's Pool . But there was no place for the animal that was under me to pass . * Then I went up in the night by the torrent , and examined the wall , and turned back , and entered by the Valley Gate , and returned . * And the rulers did not know where I had gone , or what I was doing . Nor had I told it yet to the Jews , or to the priests , or to the nobles , or to the rulers , or to the rest that did the work . * Then I said to them , You see the evil that we are in , how Jerusalem is wasted , and its gates are burned with fire . Come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem , so that we may no longer be a reproach . * Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good on me , and also the king 's words that he had spoken to me . And they said , Let us rise up and build . So they made their hands strong for good . * But when Sanballat the Horonite , and Tobiah the servant , the Ammonite , and Geshem the Arabian , heard , then they mocked us and despised us . And they said , What is this that you are doing ? Will you rebel against the king ? * Then I answered them and said to them , The God of Heaven , He will prosper us , and we His servants will arise and build . But you have no portion or right or memorial in Jerusalem .

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