Nehemiah 2:4

1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, [that] wine [was] before him: and I took up the wine, and gave [it] to the king. Now I had not [before] been sad in his presence.

2 Wherefore the king said to me, Why [is] thy countenance sad, seeing thou [art] not sick? this [is] nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was very greatly afraid,

3 And said to the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchers, [lieth] waste, and its gates are consumed with fire?

4 Then the king said to me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

5 And I said to the king, If it should please the king, and if thy servant hath found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldst send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' sepulchers, that I may build it.

6 And the king said to me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

7 Moreover, I said to the king, If it should please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah: