Nehemiah 2:15

15 So, though it was still dark, I went up the Kidron Valley instead, inspecting the wall before I turned back and entered again at the Valley Gate.

Nehemiah 2:15 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 2:15

Then went I up in the night by the brook
The brook Kidron:

and viewed the wall;
that was on that side:

and turned back;
did not go quite round the wall, the way perhaps being obstructed with rubbish, and was unpassable or he had not time to do it:

and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned;
into the city, the same way he went out of it, ( Nehemiah 2:13 ) .

Nehemiah 2:15 In-Context

13 After dark I went out through the Valley Gate, past the Jackal’s Well, and over to the Dung Gate to inspect the broken walls and burned gates.

14 Then I went to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but my donkey couldn’t get through the rubble.

15 So, though it was still dark, I went up the Kidron Valley instead, inspecting the wall before I turned back and entered again at the Valley Gate.

16 The city officials did not know I had been out there or what I was doing, for I had not yet said anything to anyone about my plans. I had not yet spoken to the Jewish leaders—the priests, the nobles, the officials, or anyone else in the administration.

17 But now I said to them, “You know very well what trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire. Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and end this disgrace!”

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew the valley.