Nehemiah 2
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And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of a King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that b I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before.
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Therefore the king said to me, "Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but c sorrow of heart." So I became dreadfully afraid,
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and said to the king, d "May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when e the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with f fire?"
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Then the king said to me, "What do you request?" So I g prayed to the God of heaven.
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And I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it."
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Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), "How long will your journey be? And when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him h a time.
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Furthermore I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the i governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah,
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"and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains j to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy." And the king granted them to me k according to the good hand of my God upon me.
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Then I went to the governors in the region beyond the River, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.
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When l Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of it, they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel.
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So I m came to Jerusalem and was there three days.
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Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one on which I rode.
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And I went out by night n through the Valley Gate to the Serpent Well and the Refuse Gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were o broken down and its gates which were burned with fire.
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Then I went on to the p Fountain Gate and to the q King's Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to pass.
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So I went up in the night by the r valley, and viewed the wall; then 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 had done; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the others who did the work.
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Then I said to them, "You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be s a reproach."
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And I told them of t the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. So they said, "Let us rise up and build." Then they u set their hands to this good work.
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But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, "What is this thing that you are doing? v Will you rebel against the king?"
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So I answered them, and said to them, "The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, w but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem."
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Cross References
Ezra 7:1
Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah.
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Cross References
Nehemiah 1:11
O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man." For I was the king's cupbearer.
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Cross References
Proverbs 15:13
A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
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Cross References
1 Kings 1:31
Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and paid homage to the king, and said, "Let my lord King David live forever!
Daniel 2:4
Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, "O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.
Daniel 5:10
The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came to the banquet hall. The queen spoke, saying, "O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your countenance change.
Daniel 6:6
So these governors and satraps thronged before the king, and said thus to him: "King Darius, live forever!
Daniel 6:21
Then Daniel said to the king, "O king, live forever!
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Cross References
2 Kings 25:8 - 10
And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 36:19
Then they burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious possessions.
Jeremiah 52:12 - 14
Now in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month ( which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
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Cross References
2 Kings 24:10
At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
Nehemiah 1:3
And they said to me, "The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.
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Cross References
Nehemiah 1:4
So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
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Cross References
Nehemiah 5:14
Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ate the governor's provisions.
Nehemiah 13:6
But during all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Then after certain days I obtained leave from the king.
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Cross References
Ezra 7:21
And I, even I, Artaxerxes the king, issue a decree to all the treasurers who are in the region beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, may require of you, let it be done diligently.
Ezra 8:36
And they delivered the king's orders to the king's satraps and the governors in the region beyond the River. So they gave support to the people and the house of God.
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Cross References
Nehemiah 3:7
And next to them Melatiah the Gibeonite, Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and Mizpah, repaired the residence of the governor of the region beyond the River.
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Cross References
Ezra 5:5
But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, so that they could not make them cease till a report could go to Darius. Then a written answer was returned concerning this matter.
Ezra 7:6
This Ezra came up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given. The king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.
Ezra 7:9
On the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.
Ezra 7:28
And has extended mercy to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty princes. So I was encouraged, as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me; and I gathered leading men of Israel to go up with me.
Nehemiah 2:18
And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. So they said, "Let us rise up and build." Then they set their hands to this good work.
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Cross References
Nehemiah 2:19
But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, "What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?
Nehemiah 4:1
But it so happened, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews.
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Cross References
Ezra 8:32
So we came to Jerusalem, and stayed there three days.
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Cross References
2 Chronicles 26:9
And Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the corner buttress of the wall; then he fortified them.
Nehemiah 3:13
Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate. They built it, hung its doors with its bolts and bars, and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall as far as the Refuse Gate.
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Cross References
Nehemiah 1:3
And they said to me, "The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.
Nehemiah 2:17
Then I said to them, "You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.
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Cross References
Nehemiah 3:15
Shallun the son of ColHozeh, leader of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate; he built it, covered it, hung its doors with its bolts and bars, and repaired the wall of the Pool of Shelah by the King's Garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the City of David.
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Cross References
2 Kings 20:20
Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah - all his might, and how he made a pool and a tunnel and brought water into the city - are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
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Cross References
2 Samuel 15:23
And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people crossed over. The king himself also crossed over the Brook Kidron, and all the people crossed over toward the way of the wilderness.
Jeremiah 31:40
"And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the LORD. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever."
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Cross References
Nehemiah 1:3
And they said to me, "The survivors who are lef...
Psalms 44:13
You make us a reproach to our neighbors, A scor...
Psalms 79:4
We have become a reproach to our neighbors, A s...
Jeremiah 24:9
I will deliver them to trouble into all the kin...
Ezekiel 5:14
Moreover I will make you a waste and a reproach...
Ezekiel 5:15
So it shall be a reproach, a taunt, a lesson, a...
Ezekiel 22:4
You have become guilty by the blood which you h...
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Cross References
Nehemiah 2:8
And a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy." And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.
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Cross References
2 Samuel 2:7
"Now therefore, let your hands be strengthened, and be valiant; for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them."
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Cross References
Nehemiah 6:6
In it was written: It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; therefore, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall, that you may be their king.
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Cross References
Ezra 4:3
But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel said to them, "You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God; but we alone will build to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.
Nehemiah 6:16
And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.