⁴ So the king said to me, “What are you requesting about this matter?”

Immediately, I prayed to the God of heaven ⁵ and then said to the king, “If this pleases the king and if this might be good for your servant who is before you, then would you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs so that I may rebuild it?”

⁶ The king, with the queen sitting beside him, said to me, “How long would your journey be? And when will you return?” Because it pleased the king to send me, I established a timetable for him.

⁷ I further said to the king, “If this pleases the king, may letters be given to me for the governors of the province Beyond the River so that they would allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, ⁸ as well as a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the temple mount, for the city wall, and for the house into which I will enter.” The king granted me these things, because the good hand of my God was upon me.