Bible Strands
Nehemiah 2:3
and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Nehemiah speaks to the Persian king after the monarch observes his facial sadness and asks for its cause. The reply occurs in the throne room, immediately following Nehemiah’s fear and the king’s prompt for his petition.
The words — The phrase לְ/עוֹלָ֣ם יִחְיֶ֑ה (le./'o.Lam yich.Yeh) literally renders “may he live forever,” a conventional royal benediction. The rhetorical construction מַדּ֜וּעַ לֹא־יֵרְע֣וּ (ma.Du.a' lo'-ye.re.'U) translates to “why should it not be bad/sad,” grounding the question in the physical reality of ruined ancestral graves and burned gates.
The thread — The royal blessing formula parallels 1 Kings 1:31, while the lament over Jerusalem’s destruction runs alongside Nehemiah 1:3 and the covenantal vow of Psalm 137:6. These connections place personal grief within a broader pattern of prophetic mourning and loyalty to Zion.
Why it lands — The passage requires a reader to recognize that sacred action frequently follows unmasked sorrow over violated heritage. It asks for honest confrontation with ruin before any petition for restoration is voiced.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?
Cross-references
- Nehemiah 1:3 And they told me, “The remnant who survived the exile are there in the province, in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
- 1 Kings 1:31 Bathsheba bowed facedown in homage to the king and said, “May my lord King David live forever!”
- Psalms 137:6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!
- Daniel 2:4 Then the astrologers answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, may you live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.”
- Daniel 5:10 Hearing the outcry of the king and his nobles, the queen entered the banquet hall. “O king, may you live forever!” she said. “Do not let your thoughts terrify you, or your face grow pale.
- 2 Chronicles 21:20 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He died, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
- 2 Chronicles 28:27 And Ahaz rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of Jerusalem, but he was not placed in the tombs of the kings of Israel. And his son Hezekiah reigned in his place.
- 2 Chronicles 32:33 And Hezekiah rested with his fathers and was buried in the upper tombs of David’s descendants. All Judah and the people of Jerusalem paid him honor at his death. And his son Manasseh reigned in his place.
- Lamentations 2:9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and shattered their bars. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and even her prophets find no vision from the LORD.
- Daniel 6:6 So the administrators and satraps went together to the king and said, “O King Darius, may you live forever!