Nehemiah 2

In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, wine was set in front of the king. I picked up the wine and handed it to him. I had never looked sad in front of him before.

1And 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.

NoteNisan is the first month of the Hebrew year, falling in March–April. The twentieth year of Artaxerxes I of Persia is about 445 BC. Handing the king his wine was Nehemiah's job: he was the royal cupbearer (see 1:11), a trusted official who served and tasted the king's wine and so had daily personal access to him.

2So the king said to me, "Why does your face look sad? You are not sick. This can only be sadness in your heart." Then I was very afraid,

2Wherefore 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,

NotePersian court etiquette expected servants to appear cheerful before the king; visible grief in his presence could be read as disloyalty, or as a bad omen for the king himself. That is why a single question about Nehemiah's face leaves him badly frightened.

3and I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad? The city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and fire has destroyed its gates."

3And 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?

Note"May the king live forever" was the standard formal greeting at the Persian court, not a personal wish. The city is Jerusalem, burned by the Babylonians in 586 BC, roughly 140 years earlier. Naming it as the place of his ancestors' graves appeals to a duty the Persians recognized: keeping family tombs in good order was a serious obligation across the ancient Near East.

4Then the king said to me, "What is it you are asking for?" So I prayed to the God of heaven,

4Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

5and I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if you are pleased with me, your servant, send me to Judah, to the city where my ancestors are buried, so that I can rebuild it."

5And 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.

Note"Your servant" is how a subject referred to himself when addressing a king; the whole speech is in the cautious, indirect language court protocol required.

6The king, with the queen sitting beside him, said to me, "How long will your trip take, and when will you come back?" It pleased the king to send me, and I told him a set time.

6And 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.

NoteThe queen's presence beside the king suggests a private meal rather than a formal state occasion. Ancient readers would take the detail as a mark of how close Nehemiah was allowed to come.

7I also said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let me be given letters for the governors of the province west of the Euphrates River, so they will let me travel through until I reach Judah.

7Moreover 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;

Note"Beyond the River" (west of the Euphrates) was the name of a large Persian province covering Syria, Phoenicia, and Judah, run by a satrap with governors under him. The letters are official safe-conduct passes, authorizing travel and requiring local officials to cooperate.

8And let me have a letter for Asaph, the man who takes care of the king's forest, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress by the temple, for the city wall, and for the house I will live in." The king gave me what I asked, because the kind hand of my God was on me.

8And 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.

NoteThe king's forest was a royal woodland reserve, its timber controlled by the crown and released only by permission. The fortress by the temple was the walled stronghold guarding the temple area. "The kind hand of my God was on me" is a set phrase of the period meaning favorable circumstances came about, not a description of a visible event.

9Then I went to the governors of the province west of the Euphrates and gave them the king's letters. The king had also sent army officers and horsemen with me.

9Then 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.

NoteAn armed escort of officers and cavalry was both protection and proof of rank: it told the local governors that Nehemiah carried the king's own authority.

10When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very upset that someone had come to work for the good of the people of Israel.

10When 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.

NoteSanballat was the governor of Samaria, the province just north of Judah; "Horonite" points to his town of origin. Tobiah held office in Ammon, east of the Jordan; the King James "servant" translates a word used in Persian administration for an official. Both governed territory that a restored, fortified Jerusalem would weaken, which is why the news disturbed them.

11So I came to Jerusalem, and I was there three days.

11So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.

12Then I got up in the night, with only a few men along. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal with me was the one I was riding.

12And 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.

13That night I went out through the Valley Gate, past the Well of the Serpent, and on to the Dung Gate. I looked closely at the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and at the gates, which fire had destroyed.

13And 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.

NoteJerusalem's gates carried working names. The Dung Gate was where refuse was carried out of the city. The Well of the Serpent (King James "dragon well") was a water source outside the wall whose exact site is unknown. Nehemiah is riding the southern and western circuit of the ruined defenses.

14Then 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.

14Then 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.

NoteThe King's Pool was a reservoir on the city's eastern side, fed from the Gihon spring. The animal could not pass because collapsed wall stone had filled the narrow slope with rubble.

15So that night I went up the valley and looked closely at the wall. Then I turned back and came in again through the Valley Gate, and so I returned.

15Then 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.

16The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done. I had not yet told the Jews, or the priests, or the leading men, or the officials, or anyone else who would do the work.

16And 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.

NoteThe "officials" and "leading men" were the local Jewish authorities and heads of the prominent families in Judah, who governed the district under Persian oversight. Nehemiah surveys the walls before telling any of them, so that no one can block or leak the plan.

17Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we are no longer shamed."

17Then 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.

NoteA city without walls had no defense and no standing; in the ancient world an unwalled ruin was a public humiliation for its people and for anything they claimed. "Reproach" in the King James means disgrace in the eyes of the surrounding peoples.

18I told them how the kind hand of my God had been on me, and also what the king had said to me. They said, "Let us get up and build." So they got ready to do this good work.

18Then 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.

19But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they laughed at us and made fun of us. They said, "What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?"

19But 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?

NoteGeshem was a powerful Arab chief whose territory lay south and east of Judah; with Sanballat in the north and Tobiah in the east, the three effectively surround the province. The charge of rebellion was not idle mockery but a real legal threat: an earlier attempt to rebuild Jerusalem had been stopped when opponents wrote to the Persian king accusing the city of a history of revolt (Ezra 4).

20Then I answered them, "The God of heaven is the one who will give us success. So we, his servants, will get up and build. But you have no share, no right, and no claim in Jerusalem."

20Then 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.

NoteThe three words are legal terms about standing in a city: a "share" is a portion of property, a "right" is a recognized legal claim, and the last word (King James "memorial") means a remembered or recorded title, a name on the register of those who belong there.