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And the king said to 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.

And a letter to 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. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

Then 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.

Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken to me. And they said, Let us rise and build. So they strengthened their hands for [this] good [work].

Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity:

And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked [thee] to anger before the builders.

So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to the half of it, for the people had a mind to work.

And I looked, and arose, and said to the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be ye not afraid of them: remember the Lord [who is] great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and [so] built. And he that sounded the trumpet [was] by me.

In what place [therefore] ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither to us: our God will fight for us.

So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us put off our clothes, [saving that] every one put them off for washing.

For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, [are] many: therefore we take up corn [for them], that we may eat, and live.

There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, [and that upon] our lands and vineyards.

Yet now our flesh [is] as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and [some] of our daughters are brought to bondage [already]: neither [is it] in our power [to redeem them]; for other men have our lands and vineyards.

Now [that] which was prepared [for me] daily [was] one ox [and] six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days an abundance of all sorts of wine: yet for all this I required not the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people.

Think upon me, my God, for good, [according] to all that I have done for this people.

In which [was] written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith [it], [that] thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall that thou mayest be their king, according to these words.

For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it may not be done. Now therefore, [O God], strengthen my hands.

Afterward I came to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who [was] shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.

And lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.