1 And it cometh to pass, in the month of Nisan, the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, wine [is] before him, and I lift up the wine, and give to the king, and I had not been sad before him; 2 and the king saith to me, `Wherefore [is] thy face sad, and thou not sick? this is nothing except sadness of heart;' and I fear very much, 3 and say to the king, `Let the king to the age live! wherefore should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of the graves of my fathers, [is] a waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?' 4 And the king saith to me, `For what art thou seeking?' and I pray unto the God of the heavens, 5 and say to the king, `If to the king [it be] good, and if thy servant be pleasing before thee, that thou send me unto Judah, unto the city of the graves of my fathers, and I built it.' 6 And the king saith to me (and the queen is sitting near him), `How long is thy journey? and when dost thou return?' and it is good before the king, and he sendeth me away, and I set to him a time. 7 And I say to the king, `If to the king [it be] good, letters let be given to me for the governors beyond the River, that they let me pass over till that I come in unto Judah: 8 and a letter unto Asaph, keeper of the paradise that the king hath, that he give to me trees for beams [for] the gates of the palace that the house hath, and for the wall of the city, and for the house into which I enter;' and the king giveth to me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.