Neemias 2

1 In the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, I picked up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before in his presence. 2 The king said to me, "Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart."

Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, "Let the king live forever! Why shouldn’t my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?"

4 Then the king said to me, "What is your request?"

So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may build it."

6 The king said to me (the queen was also sitting by him), "How long will your journey be? When will you return?"

So it pleased the king to send me, and I set a time for him. 7 Moreover I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah; 8 and 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 citadel by the temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house that I will occupy."

The king granted my requests, because of the good hand of my God on me. 9 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. 10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, because a man had come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.

11 So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. 12 I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I didn’t tell anyone what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There wasn’t any animal with me except the animal that I rode on. 13 I went out by night by the valley gate toward the jackal’s well, then to the dung gate; and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates were consumed with fire. 14 Then I went on to the spring gate and to the king’s pool, but there was no place for the animal that was under me to pass. 15 Then I went up in the night by the brook and inspected the wall; and I turned back, and entered by the valley gate, and so returned. 16 The rulers didn’t know where I went, or what I did. I had not as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest who did the work.

17 Then I said to them, "You see the bad situation that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come, let’s build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we won’t be disgraced." 18 I told them about the hand of my God which was good on me, and also about the king’s words that he had spoken to me.

They said, "Let’s rise up and build." So they strengthened their hands for the good work.

19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they ridiculed us and despised us, and said, "What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?"

20 Then I answered them, and said to them, "The God of heaven will prosper us. Therefore we, his servants, will arise and build; but you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem."

Ka Tonoa a Nehemia ki Hūrā

1 Heoi, i te marama Nihana i te rua tekau o ngā tau o Kīngi Arataherehe, i te mea he wāina i tōna aroaro, ka hāpainga ake e ahau te wāina, hoatu ana ki te kīngi. Kāhore hoki ahau i pōuri i mua atu i tōna aroaro. 2 Nā, ka mea te kīngi ki ahau, "He aha tōu kanohi i pōuri ai, kāhore nei hoki ōu mate? Ehara tēnei i te mea kē atu i te pōuri o te ngākau."

Nā, nui atu tōku wehi. 3 Anō rā ko ahau ki te kīngi, "Kia ora tonu te kīngi; he aha tōku mata i kore ai e pōuri, i te mea kua ururuatia te pā, te whare o ngā tanumanga o ōku mātua, ā, kua pau ōna kēti i te ahi?"

4 Anō rā ko te kīngi ki ahau, "He aha te mea ka tonoa nei e koe?"

Heoi, ko tāku īnoinga ki te Atua o te rangi. 5 Nā, ka kī atu ahau ki te kīngi, "Ki te pai te kīngi, ki te mea hoki e paingia ana tāu pononga i tōu aroaro, kia ungā ahau e koe ki Hūrā, ki te pā o ngā tanumanga o ōku mātua, kia hangā ai e ahau."

6 Nā, ka mea te kīngi ki ahau (i tōna taha anō hoki te kuīni e noho ana), "Kia pēhea te roa ōu ka haere nei, ā, hei āhea koe hoki mai ai?" Nā, kua pai ki te kīngi kia ungā ahau, ā, whakaritea ana e ahau he wā ki a ia.

7 I mea anō ahau ki te kīngi, "Ki te pai te kīngi, me hōmai he pukapuka ki ahau ki ngā kāwana i tāwāhi o te awa, kia tukua ahau e rātou kia puta atu ā tae noa ki Hūrā; 8 he pukapuka anō hoki ki a Āhapa, kaitiaki o te ngahere a te kīngi, kia hōmai e ia ētahi rākau ki ahau hei hanga mō ngā kurupae o ngā kēti o te nohoanga rangatira i te whare, mō te taiepa hoki o te pā, mō te whare hoki e haere atu ai ahau." Nā, ka hōmai e te kīngi ki ahau; i rite tonu ki tā te ringa pai o tōku Atua i runga i ahau.

9 Kātahi ka haere ahau ki ngā kāwana i tērā taha o te awa, hoatu ana e ahau ngā pukapuka a te kīngi ki a rātou. I ungā anō e te kīngi ētahi rangatira hōia, me ētahi hōia eke hōiho hei hoa mōku. 10 Ā, nō te rongonga o Hanaparata Horoni rāua ko te pononga, ko Tōpia Āmoni, nui rawa te kino i kino ai ki a rāua, nō te mea kua tae he tangata hei rapu i te pai mō ngā tama a Īharaira.

Tā Nehemia Tirotirohanga i ngā Taiepa

11 Heoi, kua tae ahau ki Hiruhārama, ā, e toru ōku rā ki reira. 12 Nā, ka maranga ahau i te pō, mātou ko ētahi tāngata torutoru hei hoa mōku; kīhai hoki i kōrerotia e ahau ki tētahi tā tōku Atua i hōmai ai ki tōku ngākau kia meatia ki Hiruhārama. Kāhore hoki ōku kararehe; heoi anō ko te kararehe i eke ai ahau.

13 I haere anō ahau i te pō i te Kūwaha o te Raorao, ki te ritenga o te puna tarakona, ki te Kūwaha Paru anō hoki, ā, tirotirohia iho e ahau ngā taiepa o Hiruhārama kua pakaru nei me ōna kēti kua pau nei i te ahi. 14 Kātahi ahau ka haere ki te Kūwaha o te Puna, ki te poka wai anō a te kīngi; heoi kāhore he wāhi e haere atu ai te kararehe e waha ana i ahau. 15 Nā, piki ana ahau i te awaawa i te pō, tirotirohia ana e ahau te taiepa. Nā, tahuri ana ahau, tomo ana nā te Kūwaha o te Raorao, hoki ana. 16 Heoi, kīhai ngā rangatira i mōhio e haere ana rānei ahau ki hea, he aha rānei tāku e mea nei; kāhore anō kia kōrerotia noatia e ahau ki ngā Hūrai, ki ngā tohunga, ki ngā tino tāngata, ki ngā rangatira, ki tērā atu hunga rānei i mahi nei i ngā mahi.

Te Whakaritenga kia Whakahou ngā Taiepa

17 Kātahi ka mea ahau ki a rātou, "Ka kite koutou i te nui o tō tātou aituā, ko Hiruhārama kua ururuatia, ko ōna kēti kua wera i te ahi. Haere mai, tātou ka hanga i te taiepa o Hiruhārama; kei waiho tonu tātou hei tāwainga." 18 Nā, ka kōrerotia e ahau ki a rātou te ringa o tōku Atua i pai nei ki runga i ahau, me ngā kupu a te kīngi i kōrerotia ki ahau.

Nā, ka mea rātou, "Tātou ka whakatika, ka hanga." Heoi, kei te whakakaha rātou i ō rātou ringa mō tēnei mahi pai.

19 I te rongonga ia o Hanaparata Horoni, rātou ko te pononga, ko Tōpia Āmoni, ko Keheme Ārapi, ka whakahī mai rātou ki a mātou, ka whakahāwea ki a mātou, ka mea, "He aha tēnei mea ka meatia nei e koutou? Ka whakakeke rānei koutou ki te kīngi?"

20 Kātahi ka whakahoki ahau ki a rātou, ka mea ki a rātou, "Ko te Atua o te rangi, māna e tika ai tā mātou. Nā, ka whakatika mātou, āna tāngata, ka hanga. Ko koutou ia, kāhore he wāhi, he tikanga, he maharatanga rānei, i Hiruhārama."