Nehemiah 2:1-8

Nehemiah Sent to Judah

1 In the month of Nisan, ¹in the twentieth year of King ²Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, ³I 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 ⁴sadness of the heart." Then I was very much afraid.

3 I said to the king, ⁵"Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, ⁶when 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 ⁷to 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 (⁸the queen sitting beside him), "How long will you be gone, and when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me ⁹when I had given him a time.

7 And I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given me ¹⁰to 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 ¹¹the 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, ¹²for the good hand of my God was upon me.

Nehemiah 2:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NEHEMIAH 2

Nehemiah being sorrowful in the king's presence, the reason of it was asked by the king, which he declared, and then took the opportunity to request of the king that he might be sent to Jerusalem to rebuild it, which was granted him, Ne 2:1-8, upon which he set out, and came to Jerusalem, to the great grief of the enemies of Israel, Ne 2:9-11 and after he had been three days in Jerusalem, he privately took a survey of it, to see what condition it was in, unknown to the rulers there, Ne 2:12-16, whom he afterwards exhorted to rise up and build the wall of the city, which they immediately set about, Ne 2:17,18 not regarding the scoffs and taunts of their enemies, Ne 2:19,20.

Cross References

• 1. Nehemiah 1:1; Nehemiah 5:14
• 2. Ezra 7:1
• 3. [Nehemiah 1:11]
• 4. Proverbs 15:13
• 5. 1 Kings 1:31; Daniel 2:4; Daniel 5:10; Daniel 6:21
• 6. ver. 13, 17; Nehemiah 1:3
• 7. ver. 20; Nehemiah 1:4, 5; Ezra 5:12; Daniel 2:18
• 8. [Psalms 45:9]
• 9. [Nehemiah 5:14; Nehemiah 13:6]
• 10. Ezra 8:36
• 11. Nehemiah 7:2
• 12. ver. 18; See Ezra 7:6