Nehemiah 2:14

14 Then on the east side of the city I went north to the Fountain Gate and the King's Pool. The donkey I was riding could not find any path through the rubble,

Nehemiah 2:14 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 2:14

Then I went on to the pool of the fountain, and to the king's
pool.
&c.] That led to the fountain Siloah or Gihon, so called; it was the way to the potter's field, to Bethlehem, Hebron, Gaza, and Egypt. Rauwolff says ^F20 there is still standing on the outside of the valley Tyropaeum (which distinguishes the two mountains Zion and Moriah) the gate of the fountain, which hath its name, because it leadeth towards the fountain of Siloah, called the king's pool:

but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass;
because of the heaps of rubbish that lay there.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 Travels, par. 3. c. 3. p. 227.

Nehemiah 2:14 In-Context

12 I did not tell anyone what God had inspired me to do for Jerusalem. Then in the middle of the night I got up and went out, taking a few of my companions with me. The only animal we took was the donkey that I rode on.

13 It was still night as I left the city through the Valley Gate on the west and went south past Dragon's Fountain to the Rubbish Gate. As I went, I inspected the broken walls of the city and the gates that had been destroyed by fire.

14 Then on the east side of the city I went north to the Fountain Gate and the King's Pool. The donkey I was riding could not find any path through the rubble,

15 so I went down into Kidron Valley and rode along, looking at the wall. Then I returned the way I had come and went back into the city through the Valley Gate.

16 None of the local officials knew where I had gone or what I had been doing. So far I had not said anything to any of the other Jews - the priests, the leaders, the officials, or anyone else who would be taking part in the work.