Nehemiah 2:1-8 ▼

1 And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before his face, and I lifted up the wine and gave it to the king. And never had I been sad before his face.

2 And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, and you are not sick? This is nothing except but sorrow of heart.” And I feared very much,

3 and I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of the tombs of my fathers, is waste, and its gates have been consumed with the fire?”

4 And the king said to me, “Upon what is this you are seeking?” And I prayed to the God of the heavens,

5 and I said to the king, “If to the king it is good, and if your servant has found favor in your eyes, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of the tombs of my fathers, and I will rebuild it.”

6 And the king said to me, and the queen was sitting beside him, “Even to when will be your journey? And when will you return?” And it was good before the face of the king, and he sent me away, and I set for him a time.

7 And I said to the king, “If it is good to the king, let letters be given to me for the governors beyond the River, that they let me pass over until that I come to Judah,

8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the forest that is unto the king, that he give to me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel that is for the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I will enter into.” And the king granted to me the good according to hand of my God upon me.