7
Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governorsbeyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah;
8
And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king'sforest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the kinggranted me, according to the goodhand of my God upon me.
10
When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite,heard of it, it grieved them exceedinglythat there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
12
And I arose in the night, I and somefewmen 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 dragonwell*, and to the dungport, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
16
And the rulersknew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yettold 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 unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire:come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.