Nehemiah Sent to Judah

2 And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of ^(A)King ^[a]Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that ^(B)I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. ² Therefore the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but ^(C)sorrow of heart.”

So I became ^[b]dreadfully afraid, ³ and said to the king, ^(D)“May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when ^(E)the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with ^(F)fire?”

⁴ Then the king said to me, “What do you request?”

So I ^(G)prayed to the God of heaven. ⁵ And I said to 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 of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”

⁶ Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), “How long will your journey be? And when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him ^(H)a time.

⁷ Furthermore I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the ^(I)governors of the region beyond ^[c]the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah, ⁸ and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the ^[d]citadel which pertains ^(J)to the ^[e]temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy.” And the king granted them to me ^(K)according to the good hand of my God upon me.

Brought Near by His Blood

¹¹ Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called ^(A)the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— ¹² that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Christ Our Peace

¹⁴ For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, ¹⁵ having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one ^(B)new man from the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and that He might ^(C)reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby ^(D)putting to death the enmity. ¹⁷ And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. ¹⁸ For ^(E)through Him we both have access ^(F)by one Spirit to the Father.