Nehemiah 2:1–8

¹And it cometh 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; ²and the king saith to me, ‘Wherefore is thy face sad, and thou not sick? this is nothing except sadness of heart;’ and I fear very much, ³and say to the king, ‘Let the king to the age live! wherefore should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of the graves of my fathers, is a waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?’ ⁴And the king saith to me, ‘For what art thou seeking?’ and I pray unto the God of the heavens, ⁵and say to the king, ‘If to the king it be good, and if thy servant be pleasing before thee, that thou send me unto Judah, unto the city of the graves of my fathers, and I built it.’ ⁶And the king saith to me (and the queen is sitting near him), ‘How long is thy journey? and when dost thou return?’ and it is good before the king, and he sendeth me away, and I set to him a time. ⁷And I say to the king, ‘If to the king it be good, letters let be given to me for the governors beyond the River, that they let me pass over till that I come in unto Judah: ⁸and a letter unto Asaph, keeper of the paradise that the king hath, that he give to me trees for beams for the gates of the palace that the house hath, and for the wall of the city, and for the house into which I enter;’ and the king giveth to me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.