And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artakhshaste, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.

The king said to me, "Why is your face sad, when you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart." Then I was very greatly afraid.

I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' graves, is ruined, and its gates have been consumed by fire?"

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

I said to the king, "If it is good to the king, and if your servant is pleasing before you, send me to Yehudah, to the city of my fathers' graves, so that I may rebuild it."

The king said to me, with the queen sitting beside him, "How long will your journey be, and when will you return?" It was pleasing before the king, and he sent me, and I set 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.

So I went up by the ravine at night and was examining the wall. Then I turned back, entered by the Valley Gate, and returned.

The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing. I had not yet told the Yehudim, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest of those doing the work.

Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in, that Yerushalayim is ruined and its gates are burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Yerushalayim, so that we will no longer be a disgrace."

I told them of the hand of my Elohim that was good upon me, and also the king's words that he had said to me. They said, "Let us rise up and build." So they strengthened their hands for the good.

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?'

I answered them and said to them, "The Elohim of the heavens, He will make us succeed. We, His servants, will rise up and build. But you have no portion, right, or memorial in Yerushalayim."