Discovery BoxNehemiah 2:6-10 
Context2:6 Then the king, with his consort 1 sitting beside him, replied, “How long would your trip take, and when would you return?” Since the king was amenable to dispatching me, 2 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 3 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, 4 so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the fortress adjacent to the temple and for the city wall 5 and for the house to which I go.” So the king granted me these requests, 6 for the good hand of my God was on me. 2:9 Then I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, and I presented to them the letters from the king. The king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. 2:10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official 7 heard all this, they were very displeased that someone had come to seek benefit for the Israelites.
1 tn Or “queen,” so most English versions (cf. HALOT 1415 s.v. שֵׁגַל); TEV “empress.”
2 tn Heb “It was good before the king and he sent me.”
3 tn Heb “across the river,” here and often elsewhere in the Book of Nehemiah.
4 tn Or “forest.” So HALOT 963 s.v. פַּרְדֵּס 2.
5 tc One medieval Hebrew
6 tn The Hebrew text does not include the expression “these requests,” but it is implied.
7 tn Heb “servant” (so KJV, ASV; NAB “slave”; NCV “officer.” This phrase also occurs in v. 19.
