Nehemiah 2:1-3

Modern English Version

Nehemiah Sent to Jerusalem

2 In the month of Nisan, during the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. Never had I been upset in his presence. ² So the king said to me, “Why is your face troubled though you do not seem sick? This is nothing but a troubled heart.”

Then I became very much afraid ³ and said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should not my face be troubled when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”