Nehemiah 2:7-15

7And I said to the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may set me forward till I come into Judah;

8and 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 [appertains] 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 1God upon me.

9And I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of a force and horsemen with me.

10And when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobijah the servant, the Ammonite, heard [of it], it grieved them exceedingly that there had come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

11And I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.

12And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me — but I told no man what my 2God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem — and there was no beast with me, except the beast that I rode upon.

13And I went out by night by the valley-gate, even toward the jackal-fountain, and to the dung-gate; and I viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were in ruins, and its gates were consumed with fire.

14And I went on to the fountain-gate, and to the king's pool; and there was no place for the beast under me to pass.

15And I went up in the night through the valley, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the valley-gate and returned.