8. 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 fortress which pertains to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the temple that I shall enter into. And the king so granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon 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 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.
11. So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
12. 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 animal with me, except the animal that I rode upon.
13. And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even to the jackal's well, and to the refuse gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down; and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
14. Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the animal that was under me to pass.
15. Then went I up in the night by the valley, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.
16. And the rulers knew not 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 that did the work.