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Chapter 2 |
| 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. |
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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. |
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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; |
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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. |
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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.
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| 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. |
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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. |
| 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. |
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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? |
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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. |
