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Nehemiah 2:5

in Nehemiah 2

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.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.

KJV

And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.

This verse in Nehemiah 2

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

The city of my fathers’ sepulchres - The tombs of the dead were sacred among the ancients, and nothing could appear to them more detestable than disturbing the ashes or remains of the dead. Nehemiah knew that in mentioning this circumstance he should strongly interest the feelings of the Persian king.

This site's exposition

if your servant has found favor in your sight

on Nehemiah 2:5-6

Nehemiah asks that the king send him to Judah, and he frames the whole request as a matter of the king's favor. The king asks when Nehemiah will return, so what is granted is leave with a term attached. The queen sits beside him.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

He asked for a commission to go as governor to Judah, to build the wall of Jerusalem, and to stay there for a certain time, so many months, we may suppose; and then either he had his commission renewed or went back and was sent again, so that he presided there twelve years at least, ch.
And I said unto the king; if it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

But the piety and intense earnestness of the man immediately restored [Nehemiah] to calm self-possession and enabled him to communicate, first, the cause of his sadness (Ne 2:3), and next, the patriotic wish of his heart to be the honored instrument of reviving the ancient glory of the city of his fathers.

The words behind it

19 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וָאֹמַ֣רand I said

    vaomarH559 →5305 times

  • לַמֶּ֔לֶךְto the king

    lamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • אִם־if

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • עַל־[is] on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • הַמֶּ֣לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • ט֔וֹבgood

    tovH2896 →538 times

  • וְאִם־and if

    veim-H518 →1069 times

  • יִיטַ֥בhe is good

    yitavH3190 →

  • עַבְדְּךָ֖servant your

    ʾavdekhaH5650 →799 times

  • לְפָנֶ֑יךָ<to> before you

    lefaneikhaH6440 →2123 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֧רthat

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • תִּשְׁלָחֵ֣נִיyou will send me

    tishlacheniH7971 →845 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • יְהוּדָ֗הJudah

    yehudahH3063 →819 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • עִ֛יר[the] city of

    ʾirH5892 →1090 times

  • קִבְר֥וֹת[the] tombs of

    kivrotH6913 →67 times

  • אֲבֹתַ֖יancestors my

    ʾavotaiH1 →1212 times

  • וְאֶבְנֶֽנָּה׃and I will rebuild it

    veevnenahH1129 →376 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Proverbs 3:4

    Then you will find favor and high regard in the sight of God and man.

    it leads to

    • Luke 2:52

      And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

    • 1 Samuel 2:26

      And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with man.

    • Romans 14:18

      For whoever serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

    • Psalms 111:10

      The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts gain rich understanding. His praise endures forever!

    • Genesis 39:2–4

      And the LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master.

  • Through

    Ruth 2:13

    “My lord,” she said, “may I continue to find favor in your eyes, for you have comforted and spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your servant girls.”

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 1:18

      “May your maidservant find favor with you,” said Hannah. Then she went on her way, and she began eating again, and her face was no longer downcast.

    • Philippians 2:3

      Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.

    • Genesis 33:8

      “What do you mean by sending this whole company to meet me?” asked Esau. “To find favor in your sight, my lord,” Jacob answered.

Where this verse is studied

About Nehemiah

Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.