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Nehemiah 2:3

World English Bible

I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why shouldn’t my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?”

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Nehemiah 2:3 in other translations

And I said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?

Nehemiah 2:3 · American Standard Version

Nehemiah 2:3 in context

  1. 1In the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, I picked up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before in his presence.
  2. 2The king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.”
    Then I was very much afraid.
  3. 3I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why shouldn’t my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?”
  4. 4Then the king said to me, “What is your request?”
    So I prayed to the God of heaven.
  5. 5I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may build it.”