Rebuilding the Temple

⁷ Then they gave money to the masons and carpenters,^(A) and gave food and drink and olive oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring cedar logs^(B) by sea from Lebanon^(C) to Joppa, as authorized by Cyrus^(D) king of Persia.

⁸ In the second month^(E) of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel^(F) son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak and the rest of the people (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem) began the work. They appointed Levites twenty^(G) years old and older to supervise the building of the house of the Lord. ⁹ Joshua^(H) and his sons and brothers and Kadmiel and his sons (descendants of Hodaviah^[a]) and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers—all Levites—joined together in supervising those working on the house of God.

¹⁰ When the builders laid^(I) the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets,^(J) and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise^(K) the Lord, as prescribed by David^(L) king of Israel.^{(M) 11} With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:

And all the people gave a great shout^(O) of praise to the Lord, because the foundation^(P) of the house of the Lord was laid. ¹² But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple,^(Q) wept^(R) aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. ¹³ No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy^(S) from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.

Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem’s Walls

¹¹ I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days^{(A) 12} I set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on.

¹³ By night I went out through the Valley Gate^(B) toward the Jackal^[a] Well and the Dung Gate,^(C) examining the walls^(D) of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. ¹⁴ Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate^(E) and the King’s Pool,^(F) but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; ¹⁵ so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. ¹⁶ The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.

¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire.^(G) Come, let us rebuild the wall^(H) of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.^(I)” ¹⁸ I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me^(J) and what the king had said to me.

They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.

¹⁹ But when Sanballat^(K) the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem^(L) the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us.^(M) “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”

²⁰ I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding,^(N) but as for you, you have no share^(O) in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”