1It happened in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before 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.
2The 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.
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.
3I 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?”
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 to me, “For what do you make request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.
4Nato mi kralj reče: Kaj torej prosiš? V tem sem molil k Bogu nebes.
5I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, 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.
6The king said to me (the queen was also sitting by him), “For how long shall your journey be? And when will you 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 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;
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 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 shall enter into.” The king granted my requests, because of the good hand of my God on 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 with me captains of the army and horsemen.
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, because a man had come 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,
12I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem; neither was there any animal with me, except the animal that I rode on.
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.
13I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the jackal’s well, and to the dung gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates 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 spring gate and to the king’s pool: but there was no place for the animal 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 I turned back, and entered by the valley gate, 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.
16The rulers didn’t know where 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 who 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 I said to them, “You see the evil case that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come, let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we won’t be disgraced.”
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.
18I told them of the hand of my God which was good on me, as also of 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.
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 ridiculed us, and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Will you 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 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.”
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.