Nehemiah 2:4

King James Version (1611 Edition)

Then the king said vnto me, For what doest thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heauen.

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.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the king said to me, For what dost thou ask thus? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

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 passe, in the moneth Nisan, in the twentieth yeere of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I tooke vp the wine, and gaue it vnto the King: now I had not bene beforetime sad in his presence. ² Wherefore the king said vnto me, Why is thy countenance sadde, seeing thou art not sicke? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, ³ And said vnto the king, Let the king liue for euer: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers Sepulchres, lyeth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? ⁴ Then the king said vnto me, For what doest thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heauen. ⁵ And I said vnto the king, If it please the king, and if thy seruant haue found fauour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me vnto Iudah vnto the City of my fathers sepulchres, that I may build it. ⁶ And the king saide vnto mee (the Queene also sitting by him) For how long shall thy iourney bee? and when wilt thou returne? So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time. ⁷ Moreouer I saide vnto the king, If it please the king, let letters be giuen mee to the gouernours beyond the Riuer, that they may conuey me ouer, till I come into Iudah; ⁸ And a letter vnto Asaph the keeper of the kings forrest, that he may giue me timber to make beames for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the Citie, and for the house that I shall enter into: And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God vpon 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 created the Heauen, and the Earth.

Genesis 1:4
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God diuided the light from the darkenesse.

Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them, and God said vnto them, Be fruitfull, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and haue dominion ouer the fish of the sea, and ouer the foule of the aire, and ouer euery liuing thing that mooueth vpon the earth.

Genesis 1:31
And God saw euery thing that hee had made: and behold, it was very good. And the euening and the morning were the sixth day.

Genesis 2:1
Thus the heauens and the earth were finished, and all the hoste of them.

Genesis 2:2
And on the seuenth day God ended his worke, which hee had made: And he rested on the seuenth day from all his worke, which he had made.

Genesis 5:1
This is the booke of the generations of Adam: In the day that God created man, in the likenes of God made he him.

Genesis 10:1
Now these are the generations of the sonnes of Noah; Shem, Ham, and Iaphet: and vnto them were sonnes borne after the Flood.

Genesis 11:10
These are the generations of Shem. Shem was an hundred yeres old, and begate Arphaxad two yeeres after the Flood.

Genesis 25:12
Now these are the generations of Ishmael Abrahams sonne, whom Hagar the Egyptian Sarahs handmayd, bare vnto Abraham:

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.