Nehemiah 2:3-5

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition

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. ⁵ Then I said to the king, ‘If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favour with you, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’ graves, so that I may rebuild it.’