Scripture · Old Testament
Nehemiah 2:3
Nehemiah 2:3 is verse 3 of Nehemiah chapter 2, shown here in the Berean Standard Bible.
Berean Standard Bible
and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
King James Version
And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?
World English Bible
I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why shouldn’t my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?”
Read in context
Nehemiah 2:1–5 · Berean Standard Bible
1 Now in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence,
2 so the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, though you are not ill? This could only be sadness of the heart.” I was overwhelmed with fear
3 and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
4 “What is your request?” replied the king. So I prayed to the God of heaven
5 and answered the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city where my fathers are buried, so that I may rebuild it.”
Read all of Nehemiah 2Hebrew words
Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
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Cross-references
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.
1 Kings 1:31Bathsheba bowed facedown in homage to the king and said, “May my lord King David live forever!”
Daniel 2:4Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, may you live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”
Daniel 3:9saying to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, may you live forever!
Daniel 5:10Hearing the outcry of the king and his nobles, the queen entered the banquet hall. “O king, may you live forever!” she said. “Do not let your thoughts terrify you, or your face grow pale.
Daniel 6:6So the administrators and satraps went together to the king and said, “O King Darius, may you live forever!
Daniel 6:21Then Daniel replied, “O king, may you live forever!
Nehemiah 1:3And they told me, “The remnant who survived the exile are there in the province, in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”
Psalms 102:14For Your servants delight in her stones and take pity on her dust.
Psalms 137:6May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!
Lamentations 2:9Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and shattered their bars. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and even her prophets find no vision from the LORD.
2 Chronicles 21:20Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He died, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
2 Chronicles 28:27And Ahaz rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of Jerusalem, but he was not placed in the tombs of the kings of Israel. And his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.
2 Chronicles 32:33And Hezekiah rested with his fathers and was buried in the upper tombs of David’s descendants. All Judah and the people of Jerusalem paid him honor at his death. And his son Manasseh reigned in his place.