Nehemiah Inspects the Walls and Decides to Restore Them

¹¹ I came to Jerusalem and was there for three days. ¹² I got up during the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anybody what my God put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. No animal was with me except the animal that I was riding on. ¹³ I went out during the night at the gate of the valley by the Dragon spring and to the Dung Gate. And I examined the walls in Jerusalem and its gates that had been destroyed by the fire. ¹⁴ I crossed over to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no place for my mount^[a] to cross over. ¹⁵ So I went up by the valley during the night and was examining the wall. Then I returned and came to the Valley Gate and returned. ¹⁶ The prefects did not know where I had gone and what I was doing. I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the prefects, and the rest of the workers.