r thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy
servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.' (Now
I was cupbearer to the king.)

{214}

"And it came to pass 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 unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in
his presence. And the king said to 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. And I said to the king, 'Let the king
live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city,
the place of my fathers' sepulchers, lieth waste, and the gates
thereof are consumed with fire?'

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

"And I said unto the king, 'If it please the king, and if thy servant
have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah,
unto the city of my fathers' sepulchers, that I may build it.'

"And the king said to 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. Moreover I
said to the king, 'If it please the king, let letters be given me to
the governors beyond the river, that they may let me pass through till
I come unto Judah; 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
castle which appertaineth 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. Then 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.

{215}{216}

[Illustration]
OUTSIDE EAST WALL OF JERUSALEM, GOLDEN GATE AT LEFT

This is on the east side of the city and overlooking it. There were
many gates in the wall of Jerusalem to allow the coming and going of
trade. Some were used for special branches of trade, which would
center there in booths for the merchants. Some of the gates in
ancient times were, "The Fish Gate," "The Horse Gate," "The Sheep
Gate," "The Gate of Potsherds," "The Gate of the Spring," "The Water
Gate," "The Gate of the Guard."
[End illustration]

{217}

"And when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant,