2:1 Ve ye hi be chodesh(new moon) Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artachshasta the melekh, [that] wine [was] before him: and I took up the wine, and gave [it] unto the melekh. Now I had not been [beforetime] sad in his presence.
2:2 Wherefore the melekh said unto me, Why [is] thy pannim (countenance) sad, seeing thou [art] not sick? this [is] nothing [else] but ra'ah (רע, evil) lev. Then I was very sore afraid,
2:3 And said unto the melekh, Let the melekh live forever: why should not my pannim (countenance) be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' grave, [lieth] waste, and the sha'ar (שׁע) thereof are consumed with fire?
2:4 Then the melekh said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed (palal) to the Elohim (אלהים) Shamayim.
2:5 And I said unto the melekh, If it please the melekh, and if thy eved have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Yehudah, unto the city of my fathers' grave, that I may build it.
*2:6 And the melekh said unto me, (the shegal (queen) also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the melekh to send me; and I set him a time.
2:7 Moreover I said unto the melekh, If it please the melekh, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Yehudah;
2:8 And a letter unto Asaf the keeper of the melekh's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the sha'ar (שׁע) of the palace which [appertained] to the bayit, and for the wall of the city, and for the bayit that I shall enter into. And the melekh granted me, according to the good hand of my Elohim (אלהים) upon me.
The
Rebuilding of the Walls of Yerushalayim.
Nechemyah
Private inspection:
reaction grieved, laughed, scorn and despite
2:9 Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the melekh's letters. Now the melekh had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.
2:10 When Sanvalat the Horonite, and Toviyah the eved, the Ammonite, heard [of it], it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of benai Yisrael.
2:11 So I came to Yerushalayim (ירושׁלם), and was there three days.
2:12 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I [any] man what my Elohim (אלהים) had put in my lev to do at Yerushalayim: neither [was there any] beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.
2:13 And I went out by night by the sha'ar (שׁע) of the valley, even before the tanniym (dragon, serpent) well, and to the dung sha'ar (שׁע), and viewed the walls of Yerushalayim (ירושׁלם), which were broken down, and the sha'ar (שׁע) thereof were consumed with fire.
2:14 Then I went on to the fountain sha'ar (שׁע), and to the melekh's pool: but [there was] no place for the beast [that was] under me to pass.
2:15 Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the sha'ar (שׁע) of the valley, and [so] returned.
2:16 And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told [it] to the Yehudim, nor to the Kohenim, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.
2:17 Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we [are] in, how Yerushalayim (ירושׁלם) [lieth] waste, and the sha'ar (שׁע) thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Yerushalayim (ירושׁלם), that we be no more a reproach.
2:18 Then I told them of the hand of my Elohim (אלהים) which was good upon me; as also the melekh's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for [this] good [work].
2:19 But when Sanvalat the Horonite, and Toviyah the eved, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard [it], they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What [is] this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the melekh?
2:20 Then answered I them, and said unto them, The Elohim (אלהים) Shamayim, he will prosper us; therefore we his eved will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Yerushalayim (ירושׁלם).
Asaph
ā´saf (אסף, 'āṣāph): Is the name of three men in the Old Testament, of whom one is the reputed author of Psalms 50 and 73 through 83. He was one of David's three chief musicians, the other two being Heman, and Ethan or Jeduthun, and we first hear of him when the ark was taken to Jerusalem (1Ch_15:16-19). He conducted with cymbals the music performed in the tent where the ark was housed (1Ch_16:4, 1Ch_16:5, 1Ch_16:7, 1Ch_16:37), while his two coadjutors discharged the same office at Gibeon (1Ch_16:41, 1Ch_16:42). In 1Ch_25:1 we are told that four of his sons were appointed to conduct under him detachments of the great chorus, the families of Heman and Jeduthun also furnishing leaders, and all took part at the dedication of the temple (2Ch_5:12). A., H., and J. were called the king's seers (1 Ch 25; 2Ch_35:15), no doubt an official title of rank or dignity. The “Sons of Asaph” are mentioned in later times. They formed a guild, and played a prominent part at each revival of the national religion. See MUSIC; PSALMS.