CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Nehemiah 2 GNT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/nehemiah/2.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/nehemiah/2-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">GNT</a> > Nehemiah 2</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../nehemiah/1.htm" title="Nehemiah 1">◄</a> Nehemiah 2 <a href="../nehemiah/3.htm" title="Nehemiah 3">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Good News Translation</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s">Nehemiah Goes to Jerusalem</h3><p class="par"><span class="v16_2_1"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.1" class="v16_2_1">1</span>One day four months later, when Emperor Artaxerxes was dining, I took the wine to him. He had never seen me look sad before, </span><span class="v16_2_2"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.2" class="v16_2_2">2</span>so he asked, “Why are you looking so sad? You aren't sick, so it must be that you're unhappy.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_2_2">I was startled </span><span class="v16_2_3"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.3" class="v16_2_3">3</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Neh.2.3!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> and answered, “May Your Majesty live forever! How can I keep from looking sad when the city where my ancestors are buried is in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_2_4"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.4" class="v16_2_4">4</span>The emperor asked, “What is it that you want?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_2_4">I prayed to the God of Heaven, </span><span class="v16_2_5"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.5" class="v16_2_5">5</span>and then I said to the emperor, “If Your Majesty is pleased with me and is willing to grant my request, let me go to the land of Judah, to the city where my ancestors are buried, so that I can rebuild the city.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_2_6"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.6" class="v16_2_6">6</span>The emperor, with the empress sitting at his side, approved my request. He asked me how long I would be gone and when I would return, and I told him.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_2_7"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.7" class="v16_2_7">7</span>Then I asked him to grant me the favor of giving me letters to the governors of West-of-Euphrates Province,<a href="#fn" id="link_Neh.2.7!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> instructing them to let me travel to Judah. </span><span class="v16_2_8"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.8" class="v16_2_8">8</span>I asked also for a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal forests, instructing him to supply me with timber for the gates of the fort that guards the Temple, for the city walls, and for the house I was to live in. The emperor gave me all I asked for, because God was with me.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_2_9"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.9" class="v16_2_9">9</span>The emperor sent some army officers and a troop of cavalry with me, and I made the journey to West-of-Euphrates. There I gave the emperor's letters to the governors. </span><span class="v16_2_10"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.10" class="v16_2_10">10</span>But Sanballat, from the town of Beth Horon, and Tobiah, an official in the province of Ammon, heard that someone had come to work for the good of the people of Israel, and they were highly indignant.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_2_11"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.11" class="v16_2_11">11</span>I went on to Jerusalem, and for three days </span><span class="v16_2_12"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.12" class="v16_2_12">12</span>I did not tell anyone what God had inspired me to do for Jerusalem. Then in the middle of the night I got up and went out, taking a few of my companions with me. The only animal we took was the donkey that I rode on. </span><span class="v16_2_13"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.13" class="v16_2_13">13</span>It was still night as I left the city through the Valley Gate on the west and went south past Dragon's Fountain to the Rubbish Gate. As I went, I inspected the broken walls of the city and the gates that had been destroyed by fire. </span><span class="v16_2_14"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.14" class="v16_2_14">14</span>Then on the east side of the city I went north to the Fountain Gate and the King's Pool. The donkey I was riding could not find any path through the rubble, </span><span class="v16_2_15"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.15" class="v16_2_15">15</span>so I went down into Kidron Valley and rode along, looking at the wall. Then I returned the way I had come and went back into the city through the Valley Gate.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_2_16"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.16" class="v16_2_16">16</span>None of the local officials knew where I had gone or what I had been doing. So far I had not said anything to any of the other Jews—the priests, the leaders, the officials, or anyone else who would be taking part in the work. </span><span class="v16_2_17"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.17" class="v16_2_17">17</span>But now I said to them, “See what trouble we are in because Jerusalem is in ruins and its gates are destroyed! Let's rebuild the city walls and put an end to our disgrace.” </span><span class="v16_2_18"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.18" class="v16_2_18">18</span>And I told them how God had been with me and helped me, and what the emperor had said to me.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_2_18">They responded, “Let's start rebuilding!” And they got ready to start the work.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_2_19"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.19" class="v16_2_19">19</span>When Sanballat, Tobiah, and an Arab named Geshem heard what we were planning to do, they laughed at us and said, “What do you think you're doing? Are you going to rebel against the emperor?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v16_2_20"><span class="reftext" id="Neh.2.20" class="v16_2_20">20</span>I answered, “The God of Heaven will give us success. We are his servants, and we are going to start building. But you have no right to any property in Jerusalem, and you have no share in its traditions.”</span></p><a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">2.7: </char><char style="fk" closed="false">west-of-Euphrates province: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Under Persian rule the land of Israel was part of this large Persian province west of the Euphrates River.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.</span></p> <p class="yiv9003199930MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">Bible text from the Good News Translation (GNT) is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by American Bible Society, 101 North Independence Mall East, Floor 8, Philadelphia, PA 19106-2155 (<a href="http://www.americanbible.org">www.americanbible.org</a>). Learn more at <a href="http://www.gnt.bible">www.gnt.bible</a> . Discover .BIBLE resources for your ministry at <a href="http://www.get.bible/gnt">www.get.bible/gnt</a></span></p><br /><br /><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br /><br /><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../nehemiah/1.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Nehemiah 1"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Nehemiah 1" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../nehemiah/3.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Nehemiah 3"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Nehemiah 3" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mpc/nehemiah/2-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><iframe width="122" height="860" scrolling="no" src="../sidemenu.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></div><div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhchapnoad.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>