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Nehemiah 2

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Nehemiah Requests Permission from the King 1–8

1
And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. ​
2
And the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid. ​
3
And I said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?
4
Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. ​
5
And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.
6
And the king said unto me (the queen also sitting by him), For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. ​
7
Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through till I come unto Judah;
8
and a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the castle which appertaineth 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. ​

Arrival in Jerusalem and Initial Opposition 9–10

9
Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me captains of the army and horsemen.
10
And when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, for that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. ​

The Secret Inspection of the Walls 11–16

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 put into my heart to do for Jerusalem; neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. ​
13
And I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the jackal’s well, and to the dung gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
14
Then I went on to the fountain gate and to the king’s pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.
15
Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall; and I turned back, and entered by the valley gate, 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.

Rebuilding the Walls 17–20

17
Then said I unto them, Ye see the evil case 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. ​
18
And I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me, as also of the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for the 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? ​
20
Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Nehemiah 2

Verse 1

wine was before him — Nehemiah is the cupbearer he named in 1:11. The month is Nisan, the first month, in the same 'twentieth year' as the report of 1:1. Artaxerxes is the king under whom Ezra went up (Ezra 7:1). 'Sad' is ra, the common word for 'bad' or 'evil': a bad look he had never worn before the king.

Verse 2

sorrow of heart — The king reads it from his face, 'seeing thou art not sick'. 'Sorrow' is roa, badness, and Prov 15:13 gives the pairing: 'by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken'. 'Very sore afraid' uses yare, the root of 'terrible' in 1:5 and 'fear thy name' in 1:11.

Verse 4

So I prayed to the God of heaven — The petition of 1:11, 'grant him mercy in the sight of this man', is taken up in the king's presence. 'Prayed' is palal (as in 1:4). 'Make request' is baqash, to seek, the verb of 2:10, where Sanballat and Tobiah are grieved that a man had come 'to seek the welfare' of Israel.

Verse 6

the queen also sitting by him — 'Queen' is shegal, which stands in the KJV only here and in Ps 45:9, 'upon thy right hand did stand the queen'. Nehemiah 'set him a time'; he was governor from the twentieth year to the thirty-second (5:14), when 'came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave' (13:6).

Verse 8

the good hand of my God upon me — Ezra used the phrase of his own journey under the same king: 'according to the good hand of his God upon him' (Ezra 7:9; also 8:18). 'Palace' is birah, the citadel beside the temple that Hananiah later governs (7:2). 'Forest' is pardes, the king's park, kept by Asaph.

Verse 10

it grieved them exceedingly — The verb yara, to be broken up or grieved, returns when Nehemiah is the one grieved: 'it grieved me sore' (13:8), when a temple chamber had been given to Tobiah, to whom the priest Eliashib was 'allied' (13:4). The two are named together again in 2:19; 4:7; 6:1.

Verse 12

what my God had put in my heart — The expression is Ezra's, 'hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart' (Ezra 7:27): the purpose comes from God, there in the king's heart and here in Nehemiah's. He tells no one, and goes out by night with 'some few men' and the one beast he rode.

Verse 17

that we be no more a reproach — Cherpah, the 'reproach' of 1:3, and the 'wall' (chomah) is the same word as there. The measure of the shame is Ps 79:4, 'We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us'. 'Lieth waste' is charev, laid dry and ruined.

Verse 18

they strengthened their hands — Chazaq, the verb of 2 Chr 32:5, where Hezekiah 'strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken'; Ezra 6:22 uses the phrase 'strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God'. Nehemiah gives two grounds: 'the hand of my God which was good upon me' and 'the king's words'.

Verse 19

Geshem the Arabian — He is the 'Gashmu' of 6:6 and joins Sanballat's letters in 6:1–2. 'Laughed us to scorn' is laag, to mock. The charge 'will ye rebel against the king?' repeats the accusation made against Jerusalem in Ezra 4:15, 'this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful unto kings and provinces'.

Verse 20

no portion, nor right, nor memorial — Cheleq (a share), tsedaqah (a rightful claim) and zikkaron (a remembrance, a record). It is the answer Zerubbabel gave, 'Ye have nothing to do with us' (Ezra 4:3), as Peter tells Simon 'Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter' (Acts 8:21). 'Prosper' is tsalach, as in 1:11.