⁴ Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” ^(A)So I prayed to the God of heaven. ⁵ I said to the king, “If it is good for the king, and if your servant is good before 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 sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it was good to the king to send me, and ^(B)I gave him a set time. ⁷ And I said to the king, “If it is good to the king, let letters be given me ^(C)for the governors of the provinces beyond the ^[a]River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, ⁸ and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s ^(D)forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of ^(E)the fortress which is by the house of God, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.” And the king granted them to me because ^(F)the good hand of my God was on me.