# Nehemiah 2

> Lumin Translation

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/read/nehemiah/2

Lumin’s own translation, drafted with AI from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, checked verse by verse against them, and approved by Lumin. Brackets mark verses not found in the earliest manuscripts.

How it was made: https://www.lumin.faith/lumin-translation.md

1. In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I picked up the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence.
2. So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, when you are not sick? This can only be sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid.
3. I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
4. The king said to me, “What is it you are asking for?” So I prayed to the God of heaven,
5. and I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, send me to Judah, to the city where my ancestors are buried, so that I may rebuild it.”
6. The king, with the queen sitting beside him, said to me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a set time.
7. I also said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the province Beyond the River, so that they will let me pass through until I reach Judah,
8. and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, so that he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple, for the city wall, and for the house I will live in.” The king granted my requests, because the good hand of my God was on me.
9. Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and horsemen with me.
10. When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were greatly displeased that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.
11. So I came to Jerusalem, and I was there three days.
12. Then I got up in the night, I and a few men with me. I had not told anyone what my God was putting in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me except the one I was riding.
13. I went out by night through the Valley Gate toward the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire.
14. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to get through.
15. So I went up through the valley by night and inspected the wall. Then I turned back and came in through the Valley Gate, and so I returned.
16. The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing. I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest of those who would do the work.
17. Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.”
18. I told them how the hand of my God had been good to me, and also the words the king had spoken to me. They said, “Let us get up and build!” So they strengthened their hands for the good work.
19. But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked us and despised us. They said, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
20. I answered them, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will get up and build, but you have no share, no claim, and no memorial in Jerusalem.”

## Nearby chapters

[Nehemiah 1](https://www.lumin.faith/read/nehemiah/1.md)
[Nehemiah 3](https://www.lumin.faith/read/nehemiah/3.md)

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