¹And 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.

¹Zgodi se pa v mesecu Nisanu, v dvajsetem letu kralja Artakserksa, ko je vino stalo pred njim, da vzamem vino in ga podam kralju. A prej nisem bil nikoli žalosten pred njim.

²Wherefore 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,

²In kralj mi reče: Zakaj je obraz tvoj žalosten? saj nisi bolan? To ni nič drugega nego bolečina v srcu! Tedaj sem se silno bridko bal.

³And 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?

³In rečem kralju: Kralj, živi vekomaj! Kako ne bi bil žalostnega obraza, ko pusto leži mesto, kjer je očetov mojih grobišče, in vrata njegova so z ognjem požgana!

⁴Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

⁴Nato mi kralj reče: Kaj torej prosiš? V tem sem molil k Bogu nebes.

⁵And 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.

⁵In rečem kralju: Ako se vidi dobro kralju in ako je hlapec tvoj prijeten v očeh tvojih, prosim, da me pošlješ na Judovo, v mesto, kjer so pokopani očetje moji, da ga pozidam.

⁶And 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.

⁶In kralj mi veli (kraljica pa je sedela zraven njega): Koliko časa boš hodil? in kdaj se vrneš? In kralju je bilo ugodno, in me je poslal, ko sem mu določil čas.

⁷Moreover 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;

⁷Še sem rekel kralju: Ako se vidi kralju dobro, naj prejmem list do deželnih oblastnikov onostan reke, da mi dovolijo iti skozi svoje kraje, dokler ne pridem na Judovo;

⁸And 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.

⁸in list Asafu, varuhu kraljevega gozda, da bi mi dal lesa, da napravim bruna za vrata gradu, ki je pri hiši, in za mestno obzidje in za hišo, v katero pojdem. In kralj mi jih je dal, ker je bila dobrotljiva roka Božja nad menoj.

⁹Then 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.

⁹In ko sem prišel k deželnim oblastnikom za reko, sem jim oddal kraljeve liste. Kralj pa je z menoj poslal vojne poveljnike in konjike.

¹⁰When 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.

¹⁰Ko pa je slišal Sanbalat Horončan in hlapec Tobija, Amonec, ju je hudo peklo, da je prišel človek, da skrbi za blaginjo sinov Izraelovih.

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

¹¹In dospel sem v Jeruzalem. In ko sem bil ondi tri dni,

¹²And 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.

¹²vstanem po noči in malo mož z menoj; nisem namreč povedal nobenemu človeku, kaj mi je bil dal moj Bog v srce, da storim za Jeruzalem; tudi ni bilo živinčeta pri meni razen tega, na katerem sem jezdil.

¹³And 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.

¹³In jezdil sem ponoči skozi Dolinska vrata ven proti Zmajevemu studencu in h Gnojnim vratom in pregledoval zidovje Jeruzalemsko, ki je bilo razsuto in vrata njegova z ognjem požgana.

¹⁴Then 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.

¹⁴In šel sem dalje k Studenčnim vratom in h kraljevemu ribniku, a ondi ni bilo prostora mojemu živinčetu, da bi moglo iti pod mano.

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 so returned.

¹⁵Šel sem torej po noči gori ob potoku in pregledoval zidovje; potem sem se vrnil zopet skozi Dolinska vrata in prišel domov.

¹⁶And 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.

¹⁶Načelniki pa niso vedeli, kam sem šel ali kaj sem delal, kajti doslej nisem bil ničesar povedal Judom in duhovnikom, ne plemenitnikom in načelnikom in drugim, ki so opravljali delo.

¹⁷Then 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.

¹⁷Tedaj sem jim rekel: Vidite nesrečo, v kateri smo, da Jeruzalem leži pust in njega vrata so sežgana z ognjem? Pojdimo in zidajmo zidovje jeruzalemsko, da ne bodemo več ljudem v zasrambo.

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 this good work.

¹⁸In povedal sem jim o roki svojega Boga, ki je bila dobrotljiva nad mano, tudi kraljeve besede, ki mi jih je bil govoril. Nato reko: Vstanimo in zidajmo! In potrjene so bile njih roke za dobro delo.

¹⁹But 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?

¹⁹Ko je pa to slišal Sanbalat Horončan in Tobija hlapec, Amonec, in Gesem Arabec, so nas zasmehovali in nas zaničevali in dejali: Kaj pomeni to, kar počenjate? Hočete se li vi upreti kralju?Tedaj sem jim odgovoril in rekel: Bog nebes nam da srečo, in mi, hlapci njegovi, hočemo vstati in zidati. Vam pa ni deleža, ne pravice, ne spomina v Jeruzalemu.

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.

²⁰Tedaj sem jim odgovoril in rekel: Bog nebes nam da srečo, in mi, hlapci njegovi, hočemo vstati in zidati. Vam pa ni deleža, ne pravice, ne spomina v Jeruzalemu.