⁷ I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates,^(A) so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? ⁸ And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel^(B) by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?” And because the gracious hand of my God was on me,^(C) the king granted my requests.^(D)

¹⁴ Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes,^(A) when I was appointed to be their governor^(B) in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year—twelve years—neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor.