And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.
And I said to the king, 'If it pleases you, and if I have found favor with you, would you send me to Judah, to the city where my ancestors are buried, so that I may rebuild it?'
Nehemiah is respectfully asking the Persian king for permission to return to Jerusalem and rebuild his ancestral city.
📚 Historical Context
This conversation took place around 445 BC between Nehemiah, a Jewish exile serving as cupbearer to Persian King Artaxerxes I, and the king himself. Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians about 140 years earlier, and though some Jews had returned from exile, the city walls remained in ruins. Nehemiah had been deeply grieved upon hearing reports of Jerusalem's condition and was now courageously making his request to help rebuild it.
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