Bible Strands
Nehemiah 2:13
So I went out at night through the Valley Gate toward the Well of the Serpent and the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and the gates that had been destroyed by fire.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Nehemiah narrates his own nighttime inspection of Jerusalem’s ruins immediately after securing royal permission to rebuild. He travels with a small group of men while keeping his mission secret from the wider community.
The words — עֵין הַתַּנִּין ('ein ha-tannin) marks the Spring of the Dragons, a specific landmark near the Valley Gate. The verb אֵצֵא ('e-tze) literally means I go out, emphasizing a deliberate, physical departure into the ruined city.
The thread — The inspection directly addresses the broken walls and burned gates described in Nehemiah 1:3. The Valley Gate appears earlier in 2 Chronicles 26:9 as a fortified location, grounding this assessment in Jerusalem’s established topography.
Why it lands — Requires direct observation before public commitment, treating leadership as a practical assessment of physical conditions rather than a rhetorical exercise.
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 went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
Cross-references
- Nehemiah 1:3 And they told me, “The remnant who survived the exile are there in the province, in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
- 2 Chronicles 26:9 Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and the angle in the wall, and he fortified them.
- Nehemiah 2:3 and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
- Nehemiah 2:17 Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned down. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.”
- Nehemiah 3:13 The Valley Gate was repaired by Hanun and the residents of Zanoah. They rebuilt it, installed its doors, bolts, and bars, and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall as far as the Dung Gate.
- Nehemiah 2:15 so I went up the valley by night and inspected the wall. Then I headed back and reentered through the Valley Gate.
- Nehemiah 12:31 Then I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall, and I appointed two great thanksgiving choirs. One was to proceed along the top of the wall to the right, toward the Dung Gate.
- Jeremiah 5:10 Go up through her vineyards and ravage them, but do not finish them off. Strip off her branches, for they do not belong to the LORD.