And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artakhshashtah, wine was before him, and I took the wine and gave it to the king. And I had not been bad before him.

And the king said to me, 'Why are your faces bad, and you are not sick? This is nothing but badness of heart.' And I feared greatly.

And I said to the king, 'May the king live forever! Why should my faces not be bad, when the city, the place of the graves of my fathers, is ruined, and its gates are consumed by fire?'

And the king said to me, 'For what are you asking?' And I prayed to the Elohim of the heavens.

And I said to the king, 'If it is good to the king, and if your servant is good before you, send me to Yehudah, to the city of the graves of my fathers, and I will build it.'

And the king said to me, and the queen was sitting beside him, 'Until when will your journey be, and when will you return?' And it was good before the king, and he sent me, and I gave him a time.

And I said to the king, 'If it is good to the king, let letters be given to me to the governors beyond the River, who will pass me through until I come to Yehudah.

And a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, who will give me timbers for roofing the gates of the citadel which is for the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house to which I will come.' And the king gave me, according to the good hand of my Elohim upon me.

And I came to the governors beyond the River, and I gave them the king's letters. And the king sent with me captains of the army and horsemen.

And Sanballat the Ḥoronite heard, and Toviyah the servant the 'Ammonite, and it was very bad to them that a man had come to seek good for the sons of Yisra'el.

And I came to Yerushalayim, and I was there three days.

And I arose at night, I and a few men with me, and I had not told any person what my Elohim was putting into my heart to do for Yerushalayim, and there was no beast with me except the beast on which I was riding.

And I went out by the Valley Gate at night, and to the face of the Serpent's Spring, and to the Dung Gate, and I was inspecting the walls of Yerushalayim, which were broken down, and its gates were consumed by fire.

And I passed over to the Spring Gate and to the King's Pool, and there was no place for the beast to pass under me.

And I went up in the stream at night, and I was inspecting the wall, and I returned and came by the Valley Gate, and I returned.

And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and to the Yehudim, and to the priests, and to the nobles, and to the officials, and to the rest who were doing the work, until then I had not told.

And I said to them, 'You see the badness in which we are, that Yerushalayim is ruined, and its gates have been set ablaze with fire. Come, and let us build the wall of Yerushalayim, and let us not be a reproach anymore.'

And I told them of the hand of my Elohim, which was good upon me, and also the words of the king, which he had said to me.' And they said, 'Let us arise and build.' And they strengthened their hands for the good work.

And Sanballat the Ḥoronite heard, and Toviyah the servant the 'Ammonite, and Geshem the 'Arabian, and they mocked us and looked down on us and said, 'What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?'

And I answered them a word and said to them, 'The Elohim of the heavens, He will make us succeed, and we, His servants, will arise and build, but you, there is no portion, nor righteousness, nor remembrance in Yerushalayim.'