(KJV) Nehemiah 21

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⥃Nehemiah Sent to Jerusalem

[1] And it came to pass in the month Nisan2, in the twentieth3 year of Artaxerxes the king, [that] wine [was] before him: and I took up4 the wine, and gave [it] unto the king. Now I had not been [beforetime] sad in his presence. [2] Wherefore the king said unto me, Why [is] thy5 countenance sad, seeing thou [art] not sick? this [is] nothing [else] but sorrow6 of heart. Then I7 was very sore afraid, [3] And said unto the king, Let the king8 live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city9, the place10 of my fathers’ sepulchres, [lieth] waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? [4] Then the king said unto me, For what11 dost thou make request? So I prayed12 to the God of heaven. [5] And I said unto the king, If it please13 the king, and if thy14 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. [6] And the king said unto me, (the queen15 also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased16 the king to send me; and I set him a time17. [7] Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters18 be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may19 convey me over till I come into 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 palace which [appertained] to the house, and for the wall20 of the city, and for the house21 that I shall enter into. And the king22 granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

[9] Then I came to the governors23 beyond the river, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the24 king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. [10] When Sanballat25 the Horonite26, and Tobiah the servant27, the Ammonite28, heard [of it], it grieved29 them exceedingly that there was come30 a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

⥃Nehemiah Inspects the Walls

[11] So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.31

[12] [¶]And I arose32 in the night, I and some few men with me; neither33 told I [any] man what my God34 had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither [was there any] beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. [13] And I went out by night by the gate35 of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port36, and viewed the walls37 of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire. [14] Then I went on to the gate of the fountain38, and to the king’s pool39: but [there was] no place for the beast [that was] under me to pass. [15] Then went I up in the night by the brook40, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate41 of the valley, and [so] returned. [16] And the rulers42 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 see43 the distress that we [are] in, how Jerusalem [lieth] waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come44, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach45. [18] Then I told them of the hand46 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 strengthened47 their hands for [this] good [work]. [19] But when Sanballat48 the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem49 the Arabian, heard [it], they50 laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What [is] this thing that ye do? will ye rebel51 against the king? [20] Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God52 of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no53 portion, nor right, nor memorial54, in Jerusalem.

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  1. Neh 2:1, Artaxerxes, understanding the cause of Nehemiah’s sadness, sends him with letters and commission to Jerusalem; Neh 2:9, Nehemiah, to the grief of the enemies, comes to Jerusalem; Neh 2:12, He views secretly the ruins of the walls; Neh 2:17, He incites the Jews to build. ↩

  2. Esth 3:7 ↩

  3. Neh 1:1; Ezra 7:1, Ezra 7:7 ↩

  4. Neh 1:11; Gen 40:11, Gen 40:21 ↩

  5. Gen 40:7 ↩

  6. Prov 15:13 ↩

  7. Probably the king spoke as if he had some suspicion that Nehemiah harboured some bad design, and that his face indicated some conceived treachery, or remorse; and, indeed, the words rendered sad, and sorrow of heart, might be rendered evil, and wickedness of heart. ↩

  8. Far from wishing ill to my master, I wish him to live forever. 1Kgs 1:31; Dan 2:4, Dan 3:9, Dan 5:10, Dan 6:6, Dan 6:21 ↩

  9. Neh 1:3; Ps 102:14, Ps 137:6; Lam 2:9 ↩

  10. 2Chr 21:20, 2Chr 28:27, 2Chr 32:33 ↩

  11. 1Kgs 3:5; Esth 5:3, Esth 5:6, Esth 7:2; Mark 10:51 ↩

  12. Neh 1:4, Neh 1:11; 2Sam 15:31; Prov 3:6; Phil 4:6 ↩

  13. Ezra 5:17; Esth 1:19, Esth 5:8, Esth 7:3, Esth 8:5 ↩

  14. Ruth 2:13; 2Sam 14:22; Prov 3:4 ↩

  15. Heb. the wife, It was probably Esther who was present at this time, and who seconded Nehemiah's request. ↩

  16. Neh 2:4, Neh 1:11; Isa 58:12, Isa 61:4, Isa 65:24 ↩

  17. It is probable that this time was no more than six months, or a year; after which he either returned, or had his leave of absence lengthened, as we find he was twelve years governor of the Jews. Neh 5:14, Neh 13:6 ↩

  18. Neh 2:9; Ezra 6:6, Ezra 7:21 ↩

  19. Ezra 8:22 ↩

  20. Neh 2:17, Neh 3:1-32 ↩

  21. Neh 3:7, Neh 7:2 ↩

  22. Neh 2:18; Gen 32:28; Ezra 5:5, Ezra 6:22, Ezra 7:6, Ezra 7:9, Ezra 7:27-28; Prov 21:1; Isa 66:14; Dan 1:9; Acts 7:10, Acts 26:22; 2Cor 8:16 ↩

  23. Neh 2:7 ↩

  24. Ezra 8:22 ↩

  25. Neh 2:19, Neh 4:1-3, Neh 4:7, Neh 6:1 ↩

  26. Isa 15:5; Jer 48:5, Jer 48:34 ↩

  27. Prov 30:22; Eccl 10:7 ↩

  28. Neh 13:1 ↩

  29. Num 22:3-4; Ps 112:10, Ps 122:6-9; Prov 27:4; Ezek 25:6-8; Mic 7:9-10, Mic 7:16-17; Acts 4:2, Acts 5:24, Acts 19:26-27 ↩

  30. Ezra 4:4-23 ↩

  31. Ezra 8:32 ↩

  32. Gen 32:22-24; Josh 10:9; Judg 6:27, Judg 9:32; Matt 2:14 ↩

  33. Eccl 3:7; Amos 5:13; Mic 7:5; Matt 10:16 ↩

  34. This pious and noble-minded man attributes every thing to God. If he purposed any good, it was because God put it into his heart; if he did or received any good, it was because the good hand of his God was upon him; if he expected any good, it was because he earnestly prayed God to remember him for good. Ezra 7:27; Ps 51:18, Ps 122:6; Jer 31:33, Jer 32:40; 2Cor 8:16; Jas 1:16-17; Rev 17:17 ↩

  35. Neh 2:15, Neh 3:13; 2Chr 26:9 ↩

  36. This was the gate on the eastern side of the city, through which the filth was carried to the brook Kidron and valley of Hinnom. Neh 3:13-14, Neh 12:31 ↩

  37. Neh 2:3, Neh 2:17, Neh 1:3; Jer 5:10 ↩

  38. The gate leading either to the fountain of Siloam, on the east of the city, or to that of Gihon, on the west. Neh 3:15; 2Kgs 18:17, 2Kgs 20:20; 2Chr 32:30 ↩

  39. Probably the aqueduct made by Hezekiah to bring the waters of Gihon to the city of David. ↩

  40. The brook Kidron, 2Sam 15:23; Jer 31:38-40; John 18:1 ↩

  41. The gate leading to the valley of Jehoshaphat, east of the city, through which the brook Kidron flows. It was by this gate he went out; so that he went round the whole of the city, and entered by the same gate. Neh 2:13 ↩

  42. Neh 2:12 ↩

  43. Lam 2:2, Lam 2:8-9, Lam 3:51 ↩

  44. Ezra 5:1-2, Ezra 10:2-4; Isa 35:3-4 ↩

  45. Neh 1:3; 1Sam 11:2; Ps 44:13, Ps 79:4, Ps 79:12, Ps 89:50-51; Jer 24:9; Lam 3:45-46; Ezek 5:14, Ezek 22:4-5 ↩

  46. Neh 2:8 ↩

  47. 2Sam 2:7; 1Chr 11:10, 1Chr 19:13; 2Chr 32:5; Ezra 6:22; Hag 1:13-14; Eph 6:10; Phil 2:13 ↩

  48. Neh 2:10, Neh 6:1-2 ↩

  49. Neh 6:9, Gashmu ↩

  50. Job 30:1; Ps 44:13-14, Ps 79:4, Ps 80:6; Jer 20:8; Mark 5:40; Heb 11:36 ↩

  51. Neh 6:6; Ezra 4:15-16; Luke 23:2; John 19:12; Acts 24:5 ↩

  52. Neh 2:4; 2Chr 26:5; Ps 20:5, Ps 35:27, Ps 102:13-14, Ps 122:6; Eccl 7:18 ↩

  53. Ezra 4:3; Acts 8:21 ↩

  54. Exod 28:29; Lev 2:2, Lev 24:7; Num 10:10; Isa 56:5; Zech 6:14; Acts 10:4, Acts 10:31; When Nehemiah had prayed for the relief of his countrymen, and perhaps in David's words, Ps 51:18, he did not sit still and say, "Let God now do his own work, for I have no more to do;" but set himself to do what he could towards it; and here we find that the people were of one heart with Nehemiah. Our prayers must be seconded with our serious endeavours, or else we mock God. Nearly four months had passed, namely, from Chisleu to Nisan (November to March), before Nehemiah made his application to the king for leave to go to Jerusalem; either because the winter was not a proper time for such a journey, and he would not make a motion till he could pursue it, or because it was so long before his month of waiting upon the king came, and there was no coming into his presence until called for, Esth 4:11. We are not thus limited to certain moments in our addresses to the King of kings, but have liberty of access to him at all times; to the throne of grace we never come unseasonably. ↩