Nehemiah 2:2-4

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

² So the king said to me, ‘Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This can only be sadness of the heart.’ Then I was very much afraid. ³ I said to the king, ‘May the king live for ever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my ancestors’ graves, lies waste, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?’ ⁴ Then the king said to me, ‘What do you request?’ So I prayed to the God of heaven.