Nehemiah 2:1

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

2 The king said to me, Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid.

3 I said to the king, Let the king live forever: why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers` tombs, lies waste, and the gates of it are consumed with fire?

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

5 I said to the king, If it please the king, and if your servant have found favor in your sight, that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers` tombs, that I may build it.

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

7 Moreover I said to the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah;