In the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, I picked up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before in his presence. Ezr 7:1Neh 1:11Neh 1:1Est 3:7Ezr 7:7Gen 40:11Gen 40:21 The king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.” Pro 15:13Gen 40:7
Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why shouldn’t my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?” Neh 1:31Ki 1:31Dan 2:4Dan 5:10Psa 137:62Ch 21:202Ch 28:272Ch 32:33
Then the king said to me, “What is your request?” Php 4:6Neh 1:4Pro 3:6Neh 1:111Ki 3:5Mrk 10:51Est 5:6Est 7:2
So I prayed to the God of heaven. I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may build it.” 2Sa 14:22Rut 2:13Est 5:8Est 7:3Est 8:5Ezr 5:17Pro 3:4Est 1:19
The king said to me (the queen was also sitting by him), “How long will your journey be? When will you return?” Neh 13:6Isa 65:24Neh 5:14Isa 58:12Neh 2:4Isa 61:4Neh 1:11
So it pleased the king to send me, and I set a time for him. Moreover I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah; Ezr 7:21Ezr 8:36Neh 2:9Ezr 6:6Ezr 8:22 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house that I will occupy.” Ezr 7:6Isa 66:14Neh 7:2Dan 1:9Neh 2:17-18Ezr 5:5Gen 32:282Co 8:16
The king granted my requests, because of the good hand of my God on me. 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. Ezr 8:22 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, because a man had come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. Neh 2:19Neh 4:7Act 19:26-27Ezk 25:6-8Neh 13:4Neh 6:1Pro 27:4Ecc 10:7
So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. Ezr 8:32 I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I didn’t tell anyone what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There wasn’t any animal with me except the animal that I rode on. Ezr 7:27Rev 17:172Co 8:16Jer 31:33Jer 32:40Amo 5:13Ecc 3:7Jas 1:16-17 I went out by night by the valley gate toward the jackal’s well, then to the dung gate; and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates were consumed with fire. Neh 1:32Ch 26:9Neh 2:17Neh 2:3Neh 3:13-14Neh 12:31Neh 2:15Jer 5:10 Then I went on to the spring gate and to the king’s pool, but there was no place for the animal that was under me to pass. Neh 3:152Ki 20:202Ch 32:302Ki 18:17 Then I went up in the night by the brook and inspected the wall; and I turned back, and entered by the valley gate, and so returned. 2Sa 15:23Jer 31:38-40Jhn 18:1 The rulers didn’t know where I went, or what I did. I had not as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest who did the work.
Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come, let’s build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we won’t be disgraced.” Ezk 5:14Isa 35:3-4Lam 3:45-46Lam 3:51Neh 1:3Psa 79:4Ezk 22:4-5Lam 2:8-9 I told them about the hand of my God which was good on me, and also about the king’s words that he had spoken to me. Php 2:131Ch 19:132Ch 32:5Eph 6:10Hag 1:13-142Sa 2:7Ezr 6:221Ch 11:10
They said, “Let’s rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work.
But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they ridiculed us and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?” Neh 6:6Neh 6:1-2Psa 44:13-14Mrk 5:40Psa 80:6Act 24:5Ezr 4:15-16Heb 11:36
Then I answered them, and said to them, “The God of heaven will prosper us. Therefore we, his servants, will arise and build; but you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem.” Act 8:21Ezr 4:3Neh 2:4Act 10:31Isa 56:5Ecc 7:18Psa 35:27Psa 20:5