A reading from the book of Nehemiah.

In the month of Nysan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him,

I took up the wine and gave it to the king.

Now, I had not been sad in his presence.

And the king said to me,

Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing

but sadness of the heart. Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, let the king live

forever. Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of my father's graves, lies in ruins,

and its gates have been destroyed by fire?

Then the king said to me, What are you requesting?

So I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said to the king,

If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in your sight,

that you send me to Judah to the city of my father's graves,

that I may rebuild it.

And the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him,

How long will you be gone, and when will you return?

So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time.

And I said to the king, if it pleases the king,

let letters be given me to the governors of the province beyond the river,

that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah,

and a letter to Asif, the keeper of the king's

forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple,

...