9
Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.
10
When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah 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
So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
12
And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I [any] man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither [was there any] beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.
13
And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon-well, and to the dung-port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and their gates were consumed with fire.
14
Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool: but [there was] no place for the beast [that was] under me to pass.
15
Then I went up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and [so] returned.
16
And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I 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.
17
Then said I to them, Ye see the distress that we [are] in, how Jerusalem [lieth] waste, and its gates are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we may be no more a reproach.
18
Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken to me. And they said, Let us rise and build. So they strengthened their hands for [this] good [work].
19
But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard [it], they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What [is] this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?