11
1So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days.
12
Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode.
13
I went out by night by
2the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to
3the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem
4that were broken down
5and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.
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Then I went on to
6the Fountain Gate and to
7the King's Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass.
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Then I went up in the night
8by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.
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And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.
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Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in,
9how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer
10suffer derision."
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And I told them
11of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, "Let us rise up and build."
12So they strengthened their hands for the good work.
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But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and
13Geshem the Arab heard of it,
14they jeered at us and despised us and said, "What is this thing that you are doing?
15Are you rebelling against the king?"
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Then I replied to them,
16"The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem."