^{1 Ref} 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 Ref} 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 Ref} 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 Ref} And the king saith to me, `For what art thou seeking?' and I pray unto the God of the heavens,

^{5 Ref} 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 Ref} 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 Ref} 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 Ref} 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.