Nehemiah 2:4

Douay-Rheims Bible

Then the king said to me: For what dost thou make request? And I prayed to the God of heaven,

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,

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 of Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king: that wine was before him, and I took up the wine, and gave it to the king: and I was as one languishing away before his face. ² And the king said to me: Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou dost not appear to be sick? this is not without cause, but some evil, I know not what, is in thy heart. And I was seized with an exceeding great fear: ³ And I said to the king: O king, live for ever: why should not my countenance be sorrowful, seeing the city of the place of the sepulchres of my fathers is desolate, and the gates thereof are burnt with fire? ⁴ Then the king said to me: For what dost thou make request? And 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 hath found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldst send me into Judea to the city of the sepulchre of my father, and I will build it. ⁶ And the king said to me, and the queen that sat by him: For how long shall thy journey be, and when wilt thou return? And it pleased the king, and he sent me: and I fixed 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 of the country beyond the river, that they convey me over, till I come into Judea: ⁸ And a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, to give me timber that I may cover the gates of the tower of the house, and the walls of the city, and the house that I shall enter into. And the king gave me according to the good hand of my God with 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 heaven, and earth.

Genesis 1:4
And God saw the light that it was good; and he divided the light from the darkness.

Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth.

Genesis 1:31
And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good. And the evening and morning were the sixth day.

Genesis 2:1
So the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the furniture of them.

Genesis 2:2
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.

Genesis 5:1
This is the book of the generation of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him to the likeness of God.

Genesis 10:1
These are the generations of the sons of Noe: Sem, Cham, and Japheth: and unto them sons were born after the flood.

Genesis 11:10
These are the generations of Sem: Sem was a hundred years old when he begot Arphaxad, two years after the flood.

Genesis 25:12
These are the generations of Ismael the son of Abraham, whom Agar the Egyptian, Sara’s servant, bore unto him:

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.