6
And the king said to me -- the queen also sitting by him, -- For how long shall thy journey be, and when wilt thou return? And it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
7
And I said to the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may set me forward till I come into 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 palace which [appertains] to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.
9
And I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of a force and horsemen with me.
10
And when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobijah the servant, the Ammonite, heard [of it], it grieved them exceedingly that there had come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
11
And I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
12
And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me -- but I told no man what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem -- and there was no beast with me, except the beast that I rode upon.
13
And I went out by night by the valley-gate, even toward the jackal-fountain, and to the dung-gate; and I viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were in ruins, and its gates were consumed with fire.
14
And I went on to the fountain-gate, and to the king's pool; and there was no place for the beast under me to pass.
15
And I went up in the night through the valley, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the valley-gate and returned.
16
And the rulers did not know whither I went or what I did, for I had not as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.