Nehemiah 2:4

Literal Standard Version

And the king says to me, "For what are you seeking?" And I pray to the God of the heavens,

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.

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

¹And it comes to pass, in the month of Nisan, the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, wine [is] before him, and I lift up the wine, and give to the king, and I had not been sad before him; ²and the king says to me, "Why [is] your face sad, and you not sick? This is nothing except sadness of heart"; and I fear very much, ³and say to the king, "Let the king live for all time! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of the graves of my fathers, [is] a desolation, and its gates have been consumed with fire?" ⁴And the king says to me, "For what are you seeking?" And I pray to the God of the heavens,⁵and say to the king, "If [it is] good to the king, and if your servant is pleasing before you, that you send me to Judah, to the city of the graves of my fathers, and I have built it." ⁶And the king says to me (and the queen is sitting near him), "How long is your journey? And when do you return?" And it is good before the king, and he sends me away, and I set to him a time. ⁷And I say to the king, "If [it is] good to the king, let letters be given to me for the governors beyond the River, that they let me pass over until I come to Judah: ⁸and a letter to Asaph, keeper of the paradise that the king has, that he give to me trees for beams [for] the gates of the palace that the house has, and for the wall of the city, and for the house into which I enter"; and the king gives to me, according to the good hand of my God on 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 heavens and the earth,

Genesis 1:4
And God sees that the light [is] good, and God separates between the light and the darkness,

Genesis 1:28
And God blesses them, and God says to them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over [the] fish of the sea, and over [the] bird of the heavens, and over every living thing that is creeping on the earth."

Genesis 1:31
And God sees all that He has done, and behold, [it is] very good; and there is an evening, and there is a morning—the sixth day.

Genesis 2:1
And the heavens and the earth are completed, and all their host;

Genesis 2:2
and God completes by the seventh day His work which He has made, and ceases by the seventh day from all His work which He has made.

Genesis 5:1
This [is] an account of the generations of Adam. In the day of God's creating man, in the likeness of God He has made him;

Genesis 10:1
And these [are] the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and sons are born to them after the flood.

Genesis 11:10
These [are] the generations of Shem: Shem [is] a son of one hundred years, and begets Arphaxad two years after the flood.

Genesis 25:12
And these [are] the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid, has borne to 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.