- 1And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.
- 2Wherefore 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,
- 3And 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?
- 4Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
- 5And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.
- 6And 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.
- 7Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah;
- 8And 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 palace which appertained 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.
- 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.
- 10When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
- 11So 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.
- 13And 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 the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
- 14Then 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.
- 15Then went I 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.
- 16And 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 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.
- 18Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also 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 this good work.
- 19But 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?
- 20Then 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.
KING JAMES VERSION
NEHEMIAH 2
Read the chapter, follow a linked verse, and continue into related Watchman 33 teaching.
CHAPTER VISUAL
Nehemiah 2 — Artaxerxes grants Nehemiah’s request, and after a secret night inspection he calls Jerusalem’s people to rebuild.
About this illustration
The night survey supplies the chapter’s central image, with the royal authorization suggested by a sealed letter at Nehemiah’s side. The later public resolve is implied by dawn light over the city rather than crowded into a second scene.
Scripture basis: Nehemiah 2:1–20King James Version · Standardized 1769 text with Strong’s numbering · Public domain outside the United Kingdom
EXPLORE THE MESSAGE
Related Watchman 33 Resources
Archaeological Evidence
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
Mid-fourth century BC
Wadi Daliyeh Samaria Papyri and Bullae
Fourth-century BC legal papyri, coins, bullae, and human remains from a cave north of Jericho preserve the paperwork of Samaria’s elite and a Sanballat governorship tradition generations after Nehemiah.
Nehemiah 2:10–20 · Nehemiah 4:1–23 · Nehemiah 13:28
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEInscription
Persian or Hellenistic period inscriptions; monumental estate mainly second century BC
Tobiah Inscriptions at Iraq al-Amir
Two large Aramaic inscriptions above rock-cut halls at Iraq al-Amir mark the name Tobiah beside a later Hellenistic estate, supporting a Transjordanian Tobiad tradition but not identifying Nehemiah’s opponent.
Nehemiah 2:10 · Nehemiah 6:1–19 · Nehemiah 13:4–9
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEInscription
Fifth century BC
Silver Bowl of Qaynu Son of Geshem
A fifth-century BCE silver libation bowl from Tell el-Maskhuta names Qaynu son of Geshem, king of Qedar, providing a plausible but debated link to Geshem the Arab in Nehemiah.
Nehemiah 2:19 · Nehemiah 6:1–6
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
Approximately 509–493 BC, reign of Darius I
Persepolis Fortification Archive
Tens of thousands of tablets and fragments from Persepolis expose the food, travel, labor, religion, and multilingual administration of Darius I’s empire.
Ezra 6:1–12 · Nehemiah 2:1–9 · Esther 1:1–8
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEInscription
Persian or early Hellenistic period
The Aramaic Administrative Ostracon beneath Wilson's Arch
A potsherd from sealed deposits beneath Wilson’s Arch bears a short Aramaic administrative text. Its script, language, and archaeological context provide a rare glimpse of record keeping in Jerusalem during the imperial centuries associated with Ezra and Nehemiah. The dossier connects the excavated evidence to Ezra 4:7 and Nehemiah 2:7-8 while keeping the historical claim narrower than the biblical narrative.
Ezra 4:7 · Nehemiah 2:7–8