I got up during the night, along with a few men who were with me. But I did not tell anyone what my God was putting on my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no animals with me, except for the one<n id="1" /> I was riding.

Please recall the word you commanded your servant Moses: &#8216;If you act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the nations.<n id="1" />

We did not change clothes<n id="1" /> &#8211; not I, nor my relatives, nor my workers, nor the watchmen who were with me. Each had his weapon, even when getting a drink of water.<n id="2" />p>

Even I and my relatives<n id="1" /> and my associates<n id="2" /> are lending them money and grain. But let us abandon this practice of seizing collateral!<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">So I sent messengers to them saying, &#8220;I am engaged in<n id="1" /> an important work, and I am unable to come down. Why should the work come to a halt when I leave it to come down to you?&#8221;

The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had been doing, for up to this point I had not told any of the Jews or the priests or the nobles or the officials or the rest of the workers.

<p class="bodytext">From the day that I was appointed<n id="1" /> governor<n id="2" /> in the land of Judah, that is, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes &#8211; twelve years in all &#8211; neither I nor my relatives<n id="3" /> ate the food allotted to the governor.<n id="4" />