尼希米记 2

Chinese New Version (Simplified)

王许尼希米重建城墙

2 亚达薛西王二十年尼散月，王面前摆上了酒席，我拿酒来奉给王。我在他面前素来没有露出愁容。 ²王却问我：“你既然没有病，为甚么面带愁容呢？这没有别的可能，必是心中愁烦。”我就非常惧怕， ³对王说：“愿王万岁，我列祖坟墓所在的城成了荒芜之地，城门被火焚毁，我怎能不面带愁容呢？” ⁴王问我：“你想要甚么呢？”我就向天上的　神祷告， ⁵然后对王说：“如果王认为好，仆人能在你面前蒙恩宠，就请你差派我往犹大，到我列祖坟墓所在的城去，让我重建那城。” ⁶那时，王后坐在王的旁边。王问我：“你的行程需时多久？你甚么时候回来？”王既然认为好，就差派我去，我也定了一个归期。 ⁷我又问王：“王若是认为好，请赐给我诏书，通知河西那边的省长准我经过，直至我到达犹大； ⁸又赐诏书，给看守王的园林的亚萨，吩咐他给我木材，建造圣殿的营楼大门的横梁，以及建造城墙和我要入住的房屋。”因为我的　神施恩的手帮助我，王就赐给我这一切。

⁹于是我到了河西那边的省长那里去，把王的诏书交给他们；王又派了军长和马兵护送我。 ¹⁰和伦人参巴拉和作臣仆的亚扪人多比雅听见有人来到，要为以色列求利益，他们就非常恼怒。

尼希米夜间巡视城墙

¹¹我到了耶路撒冷，在那里停留了三天。 ¹²我在夜间起来，和几个人一起出去，我没有告诉任何人我的　神使我定意要为耶路撒冷作的事，除了我所骑的一头牲口以外，没有带着别的牲口。 ¹³我夜间出了谷门，向着龙泉走去，到了粪门，视察耶路撒冷破坏了的城墙和被火焚毁的城门。 ¹⁴我又往前走，到了泉门和王池，因为地方不够让我骑着牲口过去， ¹⁵我只得在夜间沿溪而上，视察城墙，然后转回，经过谷门，回到城里。 ¹⁶没有一个官长知道我去过甚么地方，作了甚么事。我也一直没有告诉犹大人、或祭司、或贵胄、或官长，或其余作工的人。

尼希米鼓励人民重建城墙

¹⁷后来我对他们说：“你们都看见我们遭遇的患难：耶路撒冷成了荒芜之地，城门被火焚毁，你们都来吧！让我们重建耶路撒冷的城墙，免得我们再受凌辱。” ¹⁸我告诉他们，我的　神施恩的手怎样帮助我，以及王对我所说的话；他们就说：“我们要起来建造！”于是他们奋勇着手作这善工。 ¹⁹但和伦人参巴拉和作臣仆的亚扪人多比雅，以及阿拉伯人基善听见了，就讥笑我们，藐视我们，说：“你们在干甚么？你们要背叛王吗？” ²⁰我回答他们说：“天上的　神必使我们成功；我们是他的仆人，我们要起来建造，但你们在耶路撒冷无分、无权，无人记念。”

Nehemiah 2

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 2

Appointment by the King. ¹In the month Nisan of the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when the wine was in my charge, I took some and offered it to the king. Because I had never before been sad in his presence, ²the king asked me, “Why do you look sad? If you are not sick, you must be sad at heart.” Though I was seized with great fear, ³I answered the king: “May the king live forever! How could I not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates consumed by fire?” ⁴The king asked me, “What is it, then, that you wish?” I prayed to the God of heaven ⁵and then answered the king: “If it please the king, and if your servant is deserving of your favor, send me to Judah, to the city where my ancestors are buried, that I may rebuild it.” ⁶Then the king, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take and when will you return?” My answer was acceptable to the king and he agreed to let me go; I set a date for my return.

⁷I asked the king further: “If it please the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of West-of-Euphrates, that they may give me safe-conduct till I arrive in Judah; ⁸^(A)also a letter for Asaph, the keeper of the royal woods, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the temple citadel, for the city wall and the house that I will occupy.” Since I enjoyed the good favor of my God, the king granted my requests. ⁹^(B)Thus I proceeded to the governors of West-of-Euphrates and presented the king’s letters to them. The king also sent with me army officers and cavalry.

¹⁰When Sanballat the Horonite^[a] and Tobiah the Ammonite official had heard of this, they were very much displeased that someone had come to improve the lot of the Israelites.

Circuit of the City. ¹¹^(C)When I arrived in Jerusalem, and had been there three days, ¹²I set out by night with only a few other men and with no other animals but my own mount (for I had not told anyone what my God had inspired me to do for Jerusalem). ¹³^[b]I rode out at night by the Valley Gate, passed by the Dragon Spring, and came to the Dung Gate, observing how the walls of Jerusalem were breached and its gates consumed by fire. ¹⁴Then I passed over to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool. Since there was no room here for my mount to pass with me astride, ¹⁵I continued on foot up the wadi by night, inspecting the wall all the while, until I once more reached the Valley Gate, by which I went back in. ¹⁶The magistrates knew nothing of where I had gone or what I was doing, for as yet I had disclosed nothing to the Jews, neither to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the magistrates, nor to the others who were to do the work.

Decision to Rebuild the City Wall. ¹⁷Afterward I said to them: “You see the trouble we are in: how Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been gutted by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer be a reproach!” ¹⁸^(D)Then I explained to them how God had shown his gracious favor to me, and what the king had said to me. They replied, “Let us begin building!” And they undertook the work with vigor.

¹⁹When they heard about this, Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab^[c] mocked and ridiculed us. “What are you doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?” ²⁰My answer to them was this: “It is the God of heaven who will grant us success. We, his servants, shall set about the rebuilding; but you have neither share nor claim nor memorial^[d] in Jerusalem.”

Footnotes

2:10 Sanballat the Horonite: the governor of the province of Samaria (3:33–34), apparently a native of one of the Beth-horons. A letter from the Jews living at Elephantine in southern Egypt, dated 408–407 B.C., mentions “Delayah and Shelemyah, the sons of Sanballat, the governor of Samaria,” and papyri discovered in the Wadi ed-Dâliyeh in the Jordan Valley refer to a Sanballat, governor of Samaria, during the last years of Persian rule. Although his own name was Babylonian—Sin-uballit, i.e., “Sin (the moon god) has given life”—his two sons had names based on the divine name Yhwh. Tobiah the Ammonite official: the governor of the province of Ammon in Transjordan. His title, “official,” lit., “servant” (in Hebrew, ‘ebed), could also be understood as “slave,” and Nehemiah perhaps meant it in this derogatory sense. The Tobiads remained a powerful family even in Maccabean times, and something of their history is known from 2 Maccabees (3:11; 12:17), Josephus (Ant. 12:160–236), the Zeno papyri of the third century B.C., and excavation at ‘Araq el-‘Emir in Jordan. Sanballat and Tobiah, together with Geshem the Arab (Neh 2:19; 6:1–2), who was probably in charge of Edom and the regions to the south and southeast of Judah, opposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls on political grounds; the city was the capital of a rival province.
2:13–15 Nehemiah left Jerusalem by the Valley Gate near the northwestern end of the old City of David and went south down the Tyropoean Valley toward the Dragon Spring (or the En-rogel [Jos 15:7; 18:16; 2 Sm 17:17; 1 Kgs 1:9], now known as Job’s Well) at the juncture of the Valley of Hinnom and the Kidron Valley. He then turned north at the Dung Gate (or the Potsherd Gate of Jer 19:2) at the southern end of the city and proceeded up the wadi, that is, the Kidron Valley, passing the Fountain Gate (at the Spring of Gihon) and the King’s Pool (unidentified); finally he turned west and then south to his starting point.
2:19 Geshem the Arab: see also 6:1–2; in 6:6 the name occurs as Gashmu. He is known from a contemporary inscription as ruler of the Kedarite Arabs, who were threatening Judah from the south and east.
2:20 Neither share nor claim nor memorial: although Sanballat and Tobiah worshiped Yhwh, Nehemiah would not let them participate in any of the activities of the religious community in Jerusalem.

Chinese New Version (Simplified) (CNVS)

New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

尼希米记 2 Chinese New Version (Simplified)