Nehemiah 2:6-16

6 Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, "How long * will your journey be, and when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me, and ¹I gave him a definite time.

7 And I said to the king, "If it please the king, let letters be given me ²for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until * I come to Judah,

8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's ³forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of ⁴the fortress which is by the ^[a]temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go." And the king granted them to me because ⁵the good hand of my God was on me.

9 Then I came to ⁶the governors of the provinces beyond the River and gave them the king's letters. Now ⁷the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.

10 When ⁸Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite ^[b]official heard about it, it was very * displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel.

Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem's Walls

11 So I ⁹came to Jerusalem and was there three days.

12 And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem and there was no animal with me except * the animal on which I was riding.

13 So I went out at night by ¹⁰the Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon's Well and on to the Refuse Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem ¹¹which were broken down and its ¹²gates which were consumed by fire.

14 Then I passed on to ¹³the Fountain Gate and ¹⁴the King's Pool, but there was no place for my mount to pass.

15 So I went up at night by the ¹⁵ravine and inspected the wall. Then I entered the Valley Gate again and returned.

16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials or the rest who did the work.

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Nehemiah 2:6-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NEHEMIAH 2

Nehemiah being sorrowful in the king's presence, the reason of it was asked by the king, which he declared, and then took the opportunity to request of the king that he might be sent to Jerusalem to rebuild it, which was granted him, Ne 2:1-8, upon which he set out, and came to Jerusalem, to the great grief of the enemies of Israel, Ne 2:9-11 and after he had been three days in Jerusalem, he privately took a survey of it, to see what condition it was in, unknown to the rulers there, Ne 2:12-16, whom he afterwards exhorted to rise up and build the wall of the city, which they immediately set about, Ne 2:17,18 not regarding the scoffs and taunts of their enemies, Ne 2:19,20.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 15

1. Nehemiah 13:6
2. Ezra 7:21; Ezra 8:36
3. Ecclesiastes 2:5, 6
4. Nehemiah 7:2
5. Ezra 7:6; Nehemiah 2:18
6. Nehemiah 2:7
7. Ezra 8:22
8. Nehemiah 2:19; Nehemiah 4:1
9. Ezra 8:32
10. Nehemiah 3:13
11. Nehemiah 1:3
12. Nehemiah 2:3, 17
13. Nehemiah 3:15
14. 2 Kings 20:20
15. John 18:1

Footnotes 5

[a]. Lit "house"
[b]. Lit "servant"
[c]. Lit "heart"
[d]. Lit "Gate of Ash-heaps"
[e]. Lit "the animal under me"