1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of
Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine,
and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his
presence. 2 Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad,
seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart.
Then I was very sore afraid, 3 And said unto the king, Let the king live
for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the
place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are
consumed with fire?
4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou
make request?
So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said unto the
king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy
sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my
fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.
6 And the king said unto me,
(the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and
when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a
time.
7 Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let
letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may
convey me over till I come into Judah; 8 And a letter unto Asaph the
keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams
for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the
wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the
king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.
9 Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the
king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen
with me.
10 When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the
Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a
man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
11 So I came to
Jerusalem, and was there three days. 12 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I
any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was
there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. 13 And I went
out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and
to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken
down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
14 Then I went on
to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool: but there was no
place for the beast that was under me to pass. 15 Then went I up in the
night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by
the gate of the valley, and so returned.
16 And the rulers knew not
whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews,
nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the
rest that did the work.
17 Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how
Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come,
and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a
reproach.
(It is a terrible thing today when the world overcomes the church and causes the church to be a reproach. That happens when the church is weak in the Word of the Lord and when they follow other spirits which would speak to them. Then we build the church with the Word of the Lord and it is like building that physical wall of Jerusalem which had been torn down by the Babylonians.)
18 Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon
me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said,
Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good
work.
(We continually strengthen our hands for the work of God by focusing on scripture given by the Holy Spirit of God. It takes courage and strength which can only come through focusing on that Word.)
19 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?
20 Then answered I them, and said unto 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.