Bible Strands
Nehemiah 2:12
I set out at night with a few men. I did not tell anyone what my God had laid on my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal with me was the one on which I was riding.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Nehemiah narrates his own movements immediately after completing a three-day stay in Jerusalem, just before he departs to inspect the ruined walls. The words — לַ֗יְלָה (Lay.lah) means "night," and הִגַּ֣דְתִּי (hi.Gad.ti) means "I had told," marking the explicit concealment of his mission from onlookers. The thread — The motif of divine placement in the heart appears in Ezra 7:27, Revelation 17:17, and Jeremiah 31:33. Why it lands — The text demands disciplined restraint and private obedience before public implementation of a God-given task.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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 beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.
Cross-references
- Ezra 7:27 Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put into the heart of the king to so honor the house of the LORD in Jerusalem,
- Revelation 17:17 For God has put it into their hearts to carry out His purpose by uniting to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.
- Jeremiah 31:33 “But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.
- 2 Corinthians 8:16 But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same devotion I have for you.
- Jeremiah 32:40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.
- Judges 6:27 So Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city, he did it by night rather than in the daytime.
- Judges 9:32 Now then, tonight you and the people with you are to come and lie in wait in the fields.
- Psalms 51:18 In Your good pleasure, cause Zion to prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.
- Psalms 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you prosper.
- Ecclesiastes 3:7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,