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Tuesday, July 8th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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Read the Bible

Brenton's Septuagint

Nehemiah 2:4

And the king said to me, For what dost thou ask thus? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Blessing;   Country;   Nehemiah;   Prayer;   Scofield Reference Index - Israel;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Prayer, Private;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Prayer;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Artaxerxes;   Canon;   Israel;   Jerusalem;   Malachi;   Nehemiah;   Prayer;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Nehemiah, the Book of;   Persia;   Prayer;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Nehemiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Isaiah, Book of;   Nehemiah;   Nehemiah, Book of;   Prayer;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Persia;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Per'sia;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Babylonish Captivity, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Prayer;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then the king asked me, “What is your request?”
Hebrew Names Version
Then the king said to me, For what do you make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
King James Version
Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
English Standard Version
Then the king said to me, "What are you requesting?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.
New Century Version
Then the king said to me, "What do you want?" First I prayed to the God of heaven.
New English Translation
The king responded, "What is it you are seeking?" Then I quickly prayed to the God of heaven
Amplified Bible
The king said to me, "What do you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.
New American Standard Bible
Then the king said to me, "What would you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.
World English Bible
Then the king said to me, For what do you make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And the King said vnto me, For what thing doest thou require? Then I prayed to the God of heauen,
Legacy Standard Bible
Then the king said to me, "What would you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.
Berean Standard Bible
"What is your request?" replied the king. So I prayed to the God of heaven
Contemporary English Version
The king asked, "What do you want me to do?" I prayed to the God who rules from heaven.
Complete Jewish Bible
The king asked me, "What is it that you want?" I prayed to the God of heaven,
Darby Translation
And the king said to me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of the heavens.
Easy-to-Read Version
Then the king said to me, "What do you want me to do?" Before I answered, I prayed to the God of heaven.
George Lamsa Translation
Then the king said to me, For what did you make supplications and pray before the God of heaven?
Good News Translation
The emperor asked, "What is it that you want?" I prayed to the God of Heaven,
Lexham English Bible
Then the king said to me, "What is your request?" So I prayed to the God of the heavens.
Literal Translation
Then the king said to me, For what do you ask? So I prayed to the God of Heaven,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then sayde the kynge vnto me: What is the thy request? Then made I my prayer to the God of heaue,
American Standard Version
Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
Bible in Basic English
Then the king said to me, What is your desire? So I made prayer to the God of heaven.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the king sayde vnto me: What is then thy request? I made my prayer also to the God of heauen,
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Then the king said unto me: 'For what dost thou make request?' So I prayed to the God of heaven.
King James Version (1611)
Then the king said vnto me, For what doest thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heauen.
English Revised Version
Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the kyng seide to me, For what thing axist thou? And Y preiede God of heuene,
Update Bible Version
Then the king said to me, For what do you make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
Webster's Bible Translation
Then the king said to me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
New King James Version
Then the king said to me, "What do you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.
New Living Translation
The king asked, "Well, how can I help you?" With a prayer to the God of heaven,
New Life Bible
Then the king said to me, "What are you asking for?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.
New Revised Standard
Then the king said to me, "What do you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then the king said to me, Concerning what, is it, thou, wouldst make request? So I prayed unto the God of the heavens,
Douay-Rheims Bible
Then the king said to me: For what dost thou make request? And I prayed to the God of heaven,
Revised Standard Version
Then the king said to me, "For what do you make request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.
Young's Literal Translation
And the king saith to me, `For what art thou seeking?' and I pray unto the God of the heavens,
THE MESSAGE
The king then asked me, "So what do you want?" Praying under my breath to the God-of-Heaven, I said, "If it please the king, and if the king thinks well of me, send me to Judah, to the city where my family is buried, so that I can rebuild it."
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then the king said to me, "What would you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.

Contextual Overview

1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan of the twentieth year of king Arthasastha, that the wine was before me: and I took the wine, and gave it to the king: and there was not another before him. 2 And the king said to me, Why is thy countenance sad, and dost thou not control thyself? and now this is nothing but sorrow of heart. Then I was very much alarmed, 3 and I said to the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be said, forasmuch as the city, even the home of the sepulchres of my fathers, has been laid waste, and her gates have been devoured with fire? 4 And the king said to me, For what dost thou ask thus? So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, If it seem good to the king, and if thy servant shall have found favour in thy sight, I ask that thou wouldest send him into Juda, to the city of the sepulchres of my fathers; then will I rebuild it. 6 And the king, and his concubine that sat next to him, said to me, For how long will thy journey be, and when wilt thou return? and the proposal was pleasing before the king, and he sent me away, and I appointed him a time. 7 And I said to the king, If it seem good to the king, let him give me letters to the governors beyond the river, so as to forward me till I come to Juda; 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the garden which belongs to the king, that he may give me timber to cover the gates, and for the wall of the city, and for the house into which I shall enter. And the king gave to me, according as the good hand of God was upon me.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

For what: 1 Kings 3:5, Esther 5:3, Esther 5:6, Esther 7:2, Mark 10:51

So I prayed: Nehemiah 1:4, Nehemiah 1:11, 2 Samuel 15:31, Proverbs 3:6, Philippians 4:6

Reciprocal: Genesis 24:12 - I pray Genesis 24:45 - speaking Genesis 39:4 - Joseph 1 Samuel 1:13 - spake 1 Kings 8:50 - and give them Nehemiah 2:6 - So it pleased Nehemiah 2:20 - The God Proverbs 21:1 - The king's Proverbs 22:11 - the king Isaiah 49:17 - children Jeremiah 29:12 - General Jeremiah 40:5 - or go Daniel 1:9 - General Jonah 1:9 - the God Acts 23:19 - What Philippians 2:13 - to will Revelation 16:11 - the God

Cross-References

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:4
And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness.
Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them, saying, Increase and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the seas and flying creatures of heaven, and all the cattle and all the earth, and all the reptiles that creep on the earth.
Genesis 1:31
And God saw all the things that he had made, and, behold, they were very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 2:1
And the heavens and the earth were finished, and the whole world of them.
Genesis 2:2
And God finished on the sixth day his works which he made, and he ceased on the seventh day from all his works which he made.
Genesis 5:1
This is the genealogy of men in the day in which God made Adam; in the image of God he made him:
Genesis 10:1
Now these are the generations of the sons of Noe, Sem, Cham, Japheth; and sons were born to them after the flood.
Genesis 11:10
And these are the generations of Sem: and Sem was a hundred years old when he begot Arphaxad, the second year after the flood.
Genesis 25:12
And these are the generations of Ismael the son of Abraam, whom Agar the Egyptian the hand-maid of Sarrha bore to Abraam.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then the king said unto me, for what dost thou make request?.... The king supposed that there was a meaning in those looks and words of his, that he had a favour to ask of him, and therefore encourages him to it; or the king of himself moved this, as being desirous of doing anything for him he would propose, to make him easy:

so I prayed to the God of heaven; secretly, in an ejaculatory way, giving him thanks for thus disposing the king's heart towards him, and entreating he might be directed what to ask, and in a proper manner, and that he might succeed.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I prayed to the God of heaven - Mentally and momentarily, before answering the king.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Nehemiah 2:4. So I prayed to the God of heaven. — Before he dared to prefer his request to the king, he made his prayer to God, that his suit might be acceptable: and this he does by mental prayer. To the spirit of prayer every place is a praying place.


 
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