Nehemiah 2:17
King James Version
“Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we in, how Jerusalem waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.”
Context
14Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king’s pool: but no place for the beast under me to pass.
15Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and returned.
16And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.
17Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we in, how Jerusalem waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.
18Then I told them of the hand 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 strengthened their hands for good
19But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?
20Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.