Nehemiah Sent to Jerusalem 2 UDB But that day, the king looked at me and he said to me, "Why are you so sad? You do not look sick. Perhaps your spirit is troubled?" Then I was very afraid. BSB BSB: so the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, though you are not ill? This could only be sadness of the heart.” I was overwhelmed with fear
3 UDB I replied, "O King, may you rule for many, many years! I am sad for a reason, because the city in which my ancestors are buried has been turned to rubble, and all the gates around the city have been burned to ashes." BSB BSB: and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
4 UDB The king replied, "What do you want me to do for you?" And before I answered him, I prayed to God in heaven. BSB BSB: “What is your request?” replied the king. So I prayed to the God of heaven
5 UDB Then I replied, "If you are willing to do it, and if I have pleased you, then you could send me to Jerusalem, where my ancestors are buried, so that I may rebuild the city." BSB BSB: and answered the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city where my fathers are buried, so that I may rebuild it.”
6 UDB The king (with queen sitting beside him) asked me, "If I allow you to go, how long will you be gone? And when will you return?" He gave me permisson to go as soon as I gave him the dates of my going there and coming back again. BSB BSB: Then the king, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set a time.
7 UDB I also said to the king, "As a reward for my faithful service to you, please give me letters addressed to the governors who oversee the area beyond the Euphrates River. Please give them orders to allow me to travel safely through their province on my way to and from Judah. BSB BSB: I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may letters be given to me for the governors west of the Euphrates, so that they will grant me safe passage until I reach Judah.
8 UDB Also, please write a letter to Asaph, who manages all the timber in your forest, and tell him to make beams to repair the gates of the fortress next to the temple, and to repair the walls of the city, and the house in which I will live." The king did what I requested him to do, because God was helping me get what I needed for these repairs. BSB BSB: And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so that he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house I will occupy.” And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests.
9 UDB I left to travel to Judah. The king sent some army officers and soldiers riding on horses to accompany me, to protect me. When we came to the region where the governors ruled, I gave them the letters from the king. BSB BSB: Then I went to the governors west of the Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.
Nehemiah Inspects the Walls 11 UDB So I came to Jerusalem and stayed there three days. BSB BSB: After I had arrived in Jerusalem and had been there three days,
12 UDB I went out of the city in the evening, and I took a few men with me. We only had one animal, the one that I was riding on. I said nothing to anyone about what God had inspired me to do in Jerusalem. BSB BSB: I set out at night with a few men. I did not tell anyone what my God had laid on my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal with me was the one on which I was riding.
13 UDB I passed through the Valley Gate and went outside of the city wall. Then I went around the city and passed by the well called the Jackal's Well. Then I proceeded to the Dung Gate. I inspected all the walls around Jerusalem and found they were all broken open, and the wooden gates all around the wall were burned to ashes. BSB BSB: So I went out at night through the Valley Gate toward the Well of the Serpent and the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and the gates that had been destroyed by fire.
14 UDB Then I went to the Fountain Gate and to the pool called the King's Pool, but my donkey could not get through the narrow opening. BSB BSB: Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to get through;
15 UDB So I turned back and went along the Kidron Valley and I inspected the wall there before I turned back and entered the city again at the Valley Gate. BSB BSB: so I went up the valley by night and inspected the wall. Then I headed back and reentered through the Valley Gate.
16 UDB The city officials did not know where I had gone, or what I had done. I had not said anything about it to the Jewish leaders or the officials or the priests or any of the others who would do the repair work. BSB BSB: The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, for I had not yet told the Jews or priests or nobles or officials or any other workers.
17 UDB I said, "You all know very well the terrible things that have happened to our city. The city is lies in ruins, and even the gates are burned down. Come, let us do the work to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. If we do that, we will no longer be ashamed of our city." BSB BSB: Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned down. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.”
18 UDB Then I told them about how God had kindly helped me when I talked to the king, and what the king had said to me. They replied, "Let us get up and build!" So they got ready to do this good work. BSB BSB: I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me, and what the king had said to me. “Let us start rebuilding,” they replied, and they set their hands to this good work.
19 UDB But Sanballat, Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Geshem the Arabian, heard about what we planned to do. They mocked and made fun of us. They said, "What is this work that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?" BSB BSB: But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they mocked us and ridiculed us, saying, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
20 UDB But I replied, "The God who is in heaven will give us success. But you have no right to this city, you have no deed, you have no lawful claim to it, and you have no historic connection to the city of Jerusalem." BSB BSB: So I answered them and said, “The God of heaven is the One who will grant us success. We, His servants, will start rebuilding, but you have no portion, right, or claim in Jerusalem.”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.