Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem's Walls

Nehemiah 2

9 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. 10 When l Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite 1 official heard of it, they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel.

11 So I m came to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12 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. 13 And I went out by night n through the Valley Gate to the Serpent Well and the 2 Refuse Gate, and 3 viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were o broken down and its gates which were burned with fire. 14 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. 15 So I went up in the night by the r valley, 4 and 5 viewed the wall; then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. 16 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.

17 Then I said to them, "You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies 6 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." 18 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 7 their hands to this good work. 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? v Will you rebel against the king?" 20 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."

  1. 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.
  2. Cross References
    Ezra 8:32
    So we came to Jerusalem, and stayed there three days.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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?
  7. 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."
  8. 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...
  9. 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.
  10. 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."
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
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