Discovery BoxNehemiah 2:4-8 
Context2:4 The king responded, 1 “What is it you are seeking?” Then I quickly prayed to the God of heaven 2:5 and said to the king, “If the king is so inclined 2 and if your servant has found favor in your sight, dispatch me to Judah, to the city with the graves of my ancestors, so that I can rebuild it.” 2:6 Then the king, with his consort 3 sitting beside him, replied, “How long would your trip take, and when would you return?” Since the king was amenable to dispatching me, 4 I gave him a time. 2:7 I said to the king, “If the king is so inclined, let him give me letters for the governors of Trans-Euphrates 5 that will enable me to travel safely until I reach Judah, 2:8 and a letter for Asaph the keeper of the king’s nature preserve, 6 so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple and for the city wall 7 and for the house to which I go.” So the king granted me these requests, 8 for the good hand of my God was on me.
1 tn Heb “said to me.”
2 tn Heb “If upon the king it is good.” So also in v. 7.
3 tn Or “queen,” so most English versions (cf. HALOT 1415 s.v. שֵׁגַל); TEV “empress.”
4 tn Heb “It was good before the king and he sent me.”
5 tn Heb “across the river,” here and often elsewhere in the Book of Nehemiah.
6 tn Or “forest.” So HALOT 963 s.v. פַּרְדֵּס 2.
7 tc One medieval Hebrew
8 tn The Hebrew text does not include the expression “these requests,” but it is implied.
