Nehemiah 2:1-5 ▼

1 And it comes to pass, in the month of Nisan, the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, wine [is] before him, and I lift up the wine, and give to the king, and I had not been sad before him;

2 and the king says to me, “Why [is] your face sad, and you not sick? This is nothing except sadness of heart”; and I fear very much,

3 and say to the king, “Let the king live for all time! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of the graves of my fathers, [is] a desolation, and its gates have been consumed with fire?”

4 And the king says to me, “For what are you seeking?” And I pray to the God of the heavens,

5 and say to the king, “If [it is] good to the king, and if your servant is pleasing before you, that you send me to Judah, to the city of the graves of my fathers, and I have built it.”