8 Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows: 9 Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates, the judges, the governors, the officials, the Persians, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of wSusa, that is, the Elamites, 10 and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar deported and xsettled in the cities of Samaria and in the rest of the province yBeyond the River. 11 z(This is a copy of the letter that they sent.) “To Artaxerxes the king: Your servants, the men of the province Beyond the River, send greeting. And now 12 be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that arebellious and wicked city. They are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. 13 Now be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay btribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired. 14 Now because we eat the salt of the palace1 and it is not fitting for us to witness the king’s dishonor, therefore we send and inform the king, 15 in order that csearch may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will find in the book of the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from of old. That was why this city was laid waste. 16 We make known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, you will then have no possession in the province Beyond the River.”
The King Orders the Work to Cease
17 The king sent an answer: “To Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their associates who live in Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River, greeting. And now 18 the letter that you sent to us has been dplainly read before me. 19 And I made a decree, and search has been made, and it has been found that this city from of old has risen against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it. 20 And mighty kings have been over Jerusalem, who ruled over the ewhole province Beyond the River, fto whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid. 21 Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that this city be not rebuilt, until a decree is made by me. 22 And take care not to be slack in this matter. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?”
23 Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease.
Report from Jerusalem
1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.
Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the atwentieth year, as I was in bSusa the citadel, 2 that cHanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and dshame. eThe wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”
Nehemiah’s Prayer
4 fAs soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the gGod of heaven. 5 And I said, h“O Lord God of heaven, the igreat and awesome God who jkeeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 klet your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, lconfessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 mWe have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. 8 Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, nI will scatter you among the peoples, 9 but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, othough your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have pchosen, to make my name dwell there.’ 10 qThey are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. 11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and rgrant him mercy in the sight of this man.”
Now I was cupbearer to the king.
Nehemiah Sent to Judah
1 In the month of Nisan, in the stwentieth year of King tArtaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, u“Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its vgates have been destroyed by fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the wGod of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.” 6 And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. 7 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the xgovernors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the yfortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for zthe good hand of my God was upon me.
Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem’s Walls
9 Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the aarmy and horsemen. 10 But when bSanballat the Horonite and cTobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.
11 So I went to Jerusalem and was there dthree days. 12 Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode. 13 I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that 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 that was under me to pass. 15 Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. 16 And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.
17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer ederision.” 18 And I told them of fthe hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work. 19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and gGeshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you hrebelling against the king?” 20 Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but iyou have no portion or right or claim1 in Jerusalem.”
