² Therefore the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but ^(A)sorrow of heart.”

So I became ^[a]dreadfully afraid, ³ and said to the king, ^(B)“May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when ^(C)the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with ^(D)fire?”

⁴ Then the king said to me, “What do you request?”

So I ^(E)prayed to the God of heaven. ⁵ And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”

⁶ Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), “How long will your journey be? And when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him ^(F)a time.

⁷ Furthermore I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the ^(G)governors of the region beyond ^[b]the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah,