Neh 2:1-8 | ESV | STEP | In the month of Nisan , in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes , when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king . Now I had not been sad in his presence .

Nehemiah 2:1-8

Nehemiah Sent to Judah

1 In the month of Nisan, ^ain the twentieth year of King ^bArtaxerxes, when wine was before him, ^cI took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but ^dsadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, ^e“Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, ^fwhen the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed ^gto the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.” 6 And the king said to me ( ^hthe queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me ⁱwhen I had given him a time. 7 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me ^jto the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of ^kthe fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, ^lfor the good hand of my God was upon me.