Nehemiah 2:15
in Nehemiah 2so I went up the valley by night and inspected the wall. Then I headed back and reentered through the Valley Gate.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Then 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.
KJV
Then 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.
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This verse in Nehemiah 2
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThen went I up in the night by the brook,.... The brook Kidron: and viewed the wall; that was on that side: and turned back; did not go quite round the wall, the way perhaps being obstructed with rubbish, and was unpassable or he had not time to do it: and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned; into the city, the same way he went out of it, Neh 2:13.
This site's exposition
even before the dragon well
on Nehemiah 2:13-16
The night ride runs the city's edge by name: the valley gate, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, then on to the fountain gate and the king's pool, where rubble blocks even the animal Nehemiah rides. He goes up by the brook and views the wall, then turns back and enters again by the valley gate he left by, the same circuit Nehemiah 3 will later name gate by gate when the city rebuilds it. He returns having told the rulers, the priests, the nobles and the rest who will do the work nothing of what he saw or planned. The survey is finished in complete secrecy before a single public word is spoken.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The brook - The Kidron watercourse, which skirted the city on the east. Turned back - i. e. he turned westward, and having made the circuit of the city, re-entered by the valley-gate.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
on Nehemiah 2:13-15
I went out by night by the gate of the valley--that is, the Jaffa gate, near the tower of Hippicus. even before the dragon well--that is, fountain on the opposite side of the valley. and to the dung port--the gate on the east of the city, through which there ran a common sewer to the brook Kedron and the valley of Hinnom.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
And I passed to the Fountain Gate And I wished to pass to those places in the wall of the city and in those breaches, and there was no place in those breaches for riders on animals to pass through because they were so small.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 1 further source is cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וָאֱהִ֨י | vaehi | and I was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| עֹלֶ֤ה | ʾoleh | going up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| בַנַּ֙חַל֙ | vanachal | in the wadi | H5158 → | |
| לַ֔יְלָה | laylah | night | H3915 → | 233 times |
| וָאֱהִ֥י | vaehi | and I was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| שֹׂבֵ֖ר | sover | examining | H7663 → | |
| בַּחוֹמָ֑ה | bachomah | <on> the wall | H2346 → | 133 times |
| וָאָשׁ֗וּב | vaashuv | and I turned back | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| וָאָב֛וֹא | vaavo' | and I went | H935 → | 2568 times |
| בְּשַׁ֥עַר | beshaar | in [the] gate of | H8179 → | 374 times |
| הַגַּ֖יְא | hagay' | the valley | H1516 → | 59 times |
| וָאָשֽׁוּב׃ | vaashuv | and I returned | H7725 → | 1056 times |
וָאֱהִ֨יand I was
vaehiH1961 →3559 times
עֹלֶ֤הgoing up
ʾolehH5927 →890 times
בַנַּ֙חַל֙in the wadi
vanachalH5158 →
לַ֔יְלָהnight
laylahH3915 →233 times
וָאֱהִ֥יand I was
vaehiH1961 →3559 times
שֹׂבֵ֖רexamining
soverH7663 →
בַּחוֹמָ֑ה<on> the wall
bachomahH2346 →133 times
וָאָשׁ֗וּבand I turned back
vaashuvH7725 →1056 times
וָאָב֛וֹאand I went
vaavo'H935 →2568 times
בְּשַׁ֥עַרin [the] gate of
beshaarH8179 →374 times
הַגַּ֖יְאthe valley
hagay'H1516 →59 times
וָאָשֽׁוּב׃and I returned
vaashuvH7725 →1056 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
John 18:1After Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples across the Kidron Valley, where they entered a garden.
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 15:23
Everyone in the countryside was weeping loudly as all the people passed by. And as the king crossed the Kidron Valley, all the people also passed toward the way of the wilderness.
- Mark 14:32
Then they came to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus told His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”
- Matthew 26:36
At that time Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and He told them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
- John 18:26
One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Didn’t I see you with Him in the garden?”
- Luke 22:39–40
Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed Him.
- 2 Samuel 15:23
Through
2 Samuel 15:23Everyone in the countryside was weeping loudly as all the people passed by. And as the king crossed the Kidron Valley, all the people also passed toward the way of the wilderness.
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 16:2
“Why do you have these?” asked the king. Ziba replied, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride, the bread and summer fruit are for the young men to eat, and the wine…
- 1 Kings 2:37
On the day you go out and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will die; your blood will be on your own head.”
- John 18:1
After Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples across the Kidron Valley, where they entered a garden.
- 2 Samuel 16:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About Nehemiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.