Nehemiah 2
TSK
And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.
Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,

Why is thy

Genesis 40:7 And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with him in the ward of …

sorrow

Proverbs 15:13 A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the …

Then I (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.)

And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?
Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy 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.
And the king said unto 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.
Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah;
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 wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.
Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.
When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

Sanballat

Nehemiah 2:19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, …

Nehemiah 4:1-3,7 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we built the …

Nehemiah 6:1 Now it came to pass when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, …

Horonite

Isaiah 15:5 My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee to Zoar, …

Jeremiah 48:5,34 For in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up…

the servant

Proverbs 30:22 For a servant when he reigns; and a fool when he is filled with meat;

Ecclesiastes 10:7 I have seen servants on horses, and princes walking as servants on the earth.

the Ammonite

Nehemiah 13:1 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the …

it grieved

Numbers 22:3,4 And Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were many: and …

Psalm 112:10 The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his …

Psalm 122:6-9 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love you…

Proverbs 27:4 Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?

Ezekiel 25:6-8 For thus said the Lord GOD; Because you have clapped your hands, …

Micah 7:9,10,16,17 I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against …

Acts 4:2 Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus …

Acts 5:24 Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief …

Acts 19:26,27 Moreover you see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost …

there was come

Ezra 4:4 Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, …

So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.

I arose

Genesis 32:22-24 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, …

Joshua 10:9 Joshua therefore came to them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night.

Judges 6:27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the LORD had …

Judges 9:32 Now therefore up by night, you and the people that is with you, and …

Matthew 2:14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and …

neither

Ecclesiastes 3:7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

Amos 5:13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.

Micah 7:5 Trust you not in a friend, put you not confidence in a guide: keep …

Matthew 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the middle of wolves: be you …

my God (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 Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which has put such a thing …

Psalm 51:18 Do good in your good pleasure to Zion: build you the walls of Jerusalem.

Psalm 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love you.

Jeremiah 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of …

Jeremiah 32:40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not …

2 Corinthians 8:16 But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart …

James 1:16,17 Do not err, my beloved brothers…

Revelation 17:17 For God has put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, …

And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
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.

the gate of the fountain (The gate leading either to the fountain of Siloam, on the east of the city, or to that of Gihon, on the west.)

Nehemiah 3:15 But the gate of the fountain repaired Shallun the son of Colhozeh, …

2 Kings 18:17 And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from …

2 Kings 20:20 And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how …

2 Chronicles 32:30 This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and …

the king's pool (Probably the aqueduct made by Hezekiah to bring the waters of Gihon to the city of David.)

Then 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 so returned.

the brook. The brook Kidron

2 Samuel 15:23 And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed …

Jeremiah 31:38-40 Behold, the days come, said the LORD, that the city shall be built …

John 18:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples …

the gate (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.)

Nehemiah 2:13 And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the …

And the rulers 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.
Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth 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.
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 unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.
But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, 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 king?
Then 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.
Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge by R. A. Torrey [ca. 1880]
Expanded version courtesy INT Bible ©2013, Used by permission

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