Nehemiah 2:3-5

International Standard Version

³ I replied to the king, “May the king live forever. Why shouldn’t I be troubled, since the city where my ancestral sepulchers are located lies waste, with its gates burned by fire?”

⁴ The king answered, “What do you want?”

So I prayed to the God of heaven ⁵ and I replied to the king, “If it seems good to you, and if your servant has found favor with you, would you send me to Judah, to the city where my ancestral sepulchers are located, so I can rebuild it?”