Nehemiah 2:12-20

Revised Geneva Translation

¹² And I rose in the night, I and a few men with me. For I told no man what God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem. And there was not a beast with me, except the beast upon which I rode.

¹³ And I went out by night, by the gate of the valley, and came before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, how they were broken down, and their ports devoured with the fire.

¹⁴ Then I went forth to the gate of the fountain, and to the king’s fish pool. And there was no room for the beast that was under me to pass.

¹⁵ Then in the night, I went up by the brook and viewed the wall and turned back. And coming back, I entered by the gate of the valley and returned.

¹⁶ And the rulers did not know whether I was gone or what I did. Nor had I told it to the Jews yet, or to the priests, or to the noble men, or to the rulers, or to the rest who labored in the work.

¹⁷ Afterward I said to them, “You see the misery that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste and its gates are burnt with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, so that we are no longer a reproach.”

¹⁸ Then I told them of the Hand of my God which was good over me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise and build.” So they strengthened their hand to do good.

¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arabian heard it, they mocked us and despised us, and said, “What thing is this that you do? Will you rebel against the king?”

²⁰ Then I answered them, and said to them, “The God of Heaven, He will prosper us. And we, His servants, will rise up and build. But as for you, you have no portion or right or memorial in Jerusalem.”