1It happened in the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes that wine was before him. I lifted the wine and gave it to the king, and I was not bad before him.2The king said to me, "Why is your face bad, when you are not weak? This is nothing except evil of heart." I feared greatly.3I said to the king, May the king live forever. Why should my face not be evil when the city, the house of the graves of my fathers, is destroyed and its gates consumed by fire?4The king said to me, "What is it that you are seeking?" Then I prayed to the God of heaven.5I said to the king, "If it is pleasing to the king, and if your servant is acceptable before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' graves, that I may rebuild it."6The king said to me, with the queen dwelling beside him, Until when will your journey be, and until when will you return? It was good before the king, and he sent me, and I gave him a time.7I said to the king, "If it is pleasing to the king, let letters be given to me to the governors of the region beyond the River, which will cause me to pass until I come to Judah."8And a letter to Asaph, keeper of the park which belongs to the king, that he give me trees to lay beams for the gates of the palace which belongs to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house to which I will come. And the king gave it to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.9I came to the governors of the side of the River and gave them the letters of the king. The king sent with me rulers of force and horsemen.10When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, they were greatly distressed that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.