Nehemiah Arrives in Jerusalem

¹¹ So I came to Jerusalem. When I had been there for three days, ¹² I got up during the night, along with a few men who were with me. But I did not tell anyone what my God was putting on my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no animals with me, except for the one^[a] I was riding. ¹³ I proceeded through the Valley Gate by night, in the direction of the Well of the Dragons^[b] and the Dung Gate,^[c] inspecting^[d] the walls of Jerusalem that had been breached and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. ¹⁴ I passed on to the Gate of the Well and the King’s Pool, where there was not enough room for my animal to pass with me. ¹⁵ I continued up the valley during the night, inspecting the wall. Then I turned back and came to the Valley Gate, and so returned. ¹⁶ The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had been doing, for up to this point I had not told any of the Jews or the priests or the nobles or the officials or the rest of the workers.