Ezra and Nehemiah 12
1 And it came to pass in the month
Nisan of the twentieth year of king Arthasastha, that the wine was before me:
and I took the wine, and gave it to the king: and
there was not another before him.
2 And the king said to me, Why is thy
countenance sad, and dost thou not control thyself? and now this is nothing
but sorrow of heart. Then I was very much alarmed,
3 and I said to the king, Let the king
live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, forasmuch as the city,
even the home of the sepulchres of my fathers, has been laid waste, and her
gates have been devoured with fire?
4 And the king said to me, For what
dost thou ask thus? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
5 And I said to the king, If
it seem good to the king, and if thy servant shall
have found favour in thy sight, I ask that
thou wouldest send him into Juda, to the city of the
sepulchres of my fathers; then will I rebuild it.
6 And the king, and his concubine that
sat next to him, said to me, For how long will thy journey be, and when wilt
thou return? and the proposal was pleasing before the
king, and he sent me away, and I appointed him a time.
7 And I said to the king, If
it seem good to the king, let him give me letters to
the governors beyond the river, so as to forward me till I come to Juda;
8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of
the garden which belongs to the king, that he may give me timber to cover the
gates, and for the wall of the city, and for the house into which I shall
enter. And the king gave to me, according as the good hand of God
was upon me.
9 And I came to the governors beyond
the river, and I gave them the king's letters. (Now the king had sent with me
captains of the army and horsemen.)
10 And Sanaballat the Aronite heard
it, and Tobia the servant, the Ammonite, and it was
grievous to them that a man was come to seek good for the children of Israel.
11 So I came to Jerusalem, and was
there three days. 12 And I rose up by
night, I and a few men with me; and I told no man what God put into my heart
to do with Israel; and there was no beast with me, except the beast which I
rode upon. 13 And I went forth by the
gate of the valley by night, and to the mouth of the well of fig trees, and to
the dung-gate: and I mourned over the wall of Jerusalem which they were
destroying, and her gates were devoured with fire.
14 And I passed on to the fountain
gate, and to the king's pool; and there was no room for the beast to pass
under me. 15 And I went up by the
wall of the brook by night, and mourned over the wall, and passed through the
gate of the valley, and returned.
16 And the sentinels knew not why I
went, nor what I was doing; and until that time I told
it not to the Jews, or to the priests, or to the
nobles, or to the captains, or to the rest
of the men who wrought the works.
17 Then I said to them, Ye see this
evil, in which we are, how Jerusalem is desolate, and her gates have been set
on fire: come, and let us build throughout the wall of Jerusalem, and we shall
be no longer a reproach. 18 And I
told them of the hand of God which was good upon me, also about the words of
the king which he spoke to me: and I said, Let us arise and build. And their
hands were strengthened for the good work.
19 And Sanaballat the Aronite, and
Tobia the servant, the Ammonite, and Gesam the Arabian, heard
it, and they laughed us to scorn, and came to us, and
said, What is this thing that ye are doing? are ye
revolting against the king? 20 And I
answered them, and said to them, The God of heaven, he shall prosper us, and
we his servants are pure, and we will build: but ye have no part, nor right,
nor memorial, in Jerusalem.