1   And it came to passe in the moneth of Nisan, the twentith yeare of Artaxerxes the king: and there was wine before him, and I lifted vp the wine, and gaue to the king: and I was as it were languishing before his face.

2   And the king sayd to me: Why is thy countenance sad, whereas I doe not see thee sicke? this is not without cause, but some euil I know not what, is in thy hart. And I was very much and excedingly afrayd:

3   and I sayd to the king: O king for euer mayst thou liue: why should not my countenance be heauie, because the citie of the house of the sepulchres of my fathers is desolate, and the gates therof are burnt with fire?

4   And the king sayd to me: For what thing makest thou request? And I prayed the God of heauen,

5   and I sayd to the king: If it seme good to the king, and if thy seruant do please before thy face, thou send me into Iewrie to the citie of the sepulchre of my father, and I wil build it.

6   And the king sayd to me, and the Queene that sate by him: Vnto what time wil thy iourney be, and when wilt thou returne? And it pleased before the king, and he sent me: and I appoynted him a time.

7   And I sayd to the king: If it seme good to the king, let him geue me letters to the gouernours of the country beyond the Riuer, that they conduct me, til I come into Iewrie:

8   and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the kings' forest, to geue me timber that I may couer the gates of the towre of the house, and the walles of the citie, and the house that I shal enter into. And the king gaue according to the good hand of my God with me.

9   And I came to the dukes of the countrie beyond the Riuer, and gaue them the kings letters. And the king had sent with me captaynes of soldiers, and horsemen.

10   And Sanaballat an Horonite, and Tobias a seruant an Ammonite heard it, and ^note were greiued with great affliction, that a man was come, which sought the prosperitie of the children of Israel.

11   And I came to Ierusalem and was there

Nehemias. three dayes.

12   and I arose in the night, I and a few men with me, and I told not anie man what God had put in my hart to doe in Ierusalem, and there was no beast with me, but the beast wheron I sate.

13   And I went out by the gate of the valley by night, and before the fountayne of the dragon, and to the gate of the dung, and I viewed the wal of Ierusalem broken downe, and the gates therof consumed with fire.

14   And I passed to the gate of the fountayne, and to the kinges conduite, and there was no place for the beast where on I sat, to passe.

15   And I went vp by the torrent in the night, and viewed the wal, and going backe I came to the gate of the valley, and returned.

16   But the magistrastes knew not whither I went, or what I did: yea and to the Iewes, and the Priestes, and the nobles, and the magistrates, and the rest that did the worke vntil then I had shewed nothing.

17   And I sayd to them: You know the affliction wherin we are, because Ierusalem is made desolate, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire: Come, and let vs build the walles of Ierusalem, and let vs be no longer a reproch.

18   And I shewed them ^note the hand of my God, that it was good with me, and the kings wordes, which he had spoken to me, and I sayd: Let vs rise, and let vs build. And their handes were incouraged in good.

19   But Sanaballat the Horonite, and Tobias the seruant an Ammanite, and Gosem an Arabian heard of it, and they scorned vs, and despysed vs, and sayd: What is this thing, that you doe? Why do you rebel against the king?

20   And I answered them, and sayd to them: The God of heauen he helpeth vs, and we are his seruants: let vs rise and build: but you haue no part, nor iustice, nor memorie in Ierusalem.

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