¹And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that there was wine available for him, and I bore the wine and gave some to the king. Now I was not normally sorrowful in his presence, ²and the king said to me, “Why is your expression sorrowful, although you are not ill? Is this nothing other than a sorrowful heart?” And I was very much afraid. ³And I said to the king, “May the king live age-abidingly. Why should my expression not be sorrowful when the city of the graveyards of my fathers is desolate, and its gates have been consumed by fire?” ⁴At this the king said to me, “What is it that you are requesting?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven. ⁵And I said to the king, “If it is acceptable to the king, and if your servant is approved of in your sight, it is that you should send me to Judah, to the city of the tombs of my fathers, and that I should rebuild it.” ⁶And the king said to me, with the queen sitting next to him, “How long would your journey take and when would you return?” And it was acceptable to the king, and he let me go, and I gave him a timescale. ⁷And I said to the king, “If it is acceptable to the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region on the far side of the river, so that I am given passage until I arrive in Judah, ⁸and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's park, for him to give me wood to put a roof over the gates of the citadel which belongs to the house, and for the city wall, and for the house to which I am going.” And the king gave me these, according to the good hand of my God on me. ⁹And I came to the governors of the region on the far side of the river, and I gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent army commanders with me, and horsemen. ¹⁰But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard it, it grieved them very greatly that a man should have come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel. ¹¹And I arrived in Jerusalem, and I was there for three days. ¹²Then I got up at night – I and a few men with me – but I did not tell anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. And I did not have any animals with me except the animal I rode on. ¹³And I went out through the Valley Gate by night and came up to the Crocodile Fount and to the Dung Gate, and I examined the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down, and its gates which had been consumed by fire. ¹⁴And I crossed over to the Fount Gate and to the king's pool, but there was no place for the animal under me to pass. ¹⁵Then I went up by the way of the brook by night, and I examined the wall, and I returned and went in by the Valley Gate, then I came back. ¹⁶And the administrators did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and up to this time I had not told the Jews or the priests or the nobles or the administrators or the rest who were doing the work. ¹⁷And I said to them, “You see the plight which we are in – that Jerusalem is desolate, and its gates here have been burnt with fire. Come, and let's build the wall of Jerusalem so that we are no longer a reproach.” ¹⁸And I told them that the hand of my God had been good on me, and also the king's words which he spoke to me. Then they said, “We will arise and build.” And they encouraged themselves for the good work. ¹⁹But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arabian heard about it, they mocked us and despised us, and they said, “What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” ²⁰And I replied to them, and I said to them, “The God of heaven will give us success, and we, his servants, will arise and build, but you have no part or right or remembrance in Jerusalem.”