Nehemiah 2:1-10

1 One day four months later, when Emperor Artaxerxes was dining, I took the wine to him. He had never seen me look sad before,
2 so he asked, "Why are you looking so sad? You aren't sick, so it must be that you're unhappy." I was startled
3 and answered, "May Your Majesty live forever! How can I keep from looking sad when the city where my ancestors are buried is in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" 1
4 The emperor asked, "What is it that you want?" I prayed to the God of Heaven,
5 and then I said to the emperor, "If Your Majesty is pleased with me and is willing to grant my request, let me go to the land of Judah, to the city where my ancestors are buried, so that I can rebuild the city."
6 The emperor, with the empress sitting at his side, approved my request. He asked me how long I would be gone and when I would return, and I told him.
7 Then I asked him to grant me the favor of giving me letters to the governors of West-of-Euphrates Province, instructing them to let me travel to Judah.
8 I asked also for a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal forests, instructing him to supply me with timber for the gates of the fort that guards the Temple, for the city walls, and for the house I was to live in. The emperor gave me all I asked for, because God was with me.
9 The emperor sent some army officers and a troop of cavalry with me, and I made the journey to West-of-Euphrates. There I gave the emperor's letters to the governors.
10 But Sanballat, from the town of Beth Horon, and Tobiah, an official in the province of Ammon, heard that someone had come to work for the good of the people of Israel, and they were highly indignant.

Cross References 1

  • 1. 2.3 2 K 25.8-10;2 Chronicles 36.19;Jeremiah 52.12-14.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. west-of-euphrates province: [Under Persian rule the land of Israel was part of this large Persian province west of the Euphrates River.]
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.