Nehemiah 2:1
New International Version
In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before,

New Living Translation
Early the following spring, in the month of Nisan, during the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was serving the king his wine. I had never before appeared sad in his presence.

English Standard Version
In the month of Nisan, 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.

Berean Standard Bible
Now in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence,

King James Bible
And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.

New King James Version
And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before.

New American Standard Bible
And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I picked up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.

NASB 1995
And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.

NASB 1977
And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.

Legacy Standard Bible
Now it happened in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.

Amplified Bible
In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was placed before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not [previously] been sad in his presence.

Christian Standard Bible
During the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence,

Holman Christian Standard Bible
During the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence,

American Standard Version
And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And then in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artakhshesht the King, I was giving wine to drink before the King, and I took wine and I gave to the King, and I had not ever been sad before him.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And it came to pass in the month Nisan of the twentieth year of king Arthasastha, that the wine was before me: and I took the wine, and gave it to the king: and there was not another before him.

Contemporary English Version
During the month of Nisan in the twentieth year that Artaxerxes was king, I served him his wine, as I had done before. But this was the first time I had ever looked depressed.

Douay-Rheims Bible
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.

English Revised Version
And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
In the month of Nisan, in Artaxerxes' twentieth year as king, after some wine was brought for the king, I picked up the cup of wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence before.

Good News Translation
One day four months later, when Emperor Artaxerxes was dining, I took the wine to him. He had never seen me look sad before,

International Standard Version
It came about in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, during the month of Nissan, the king was about to drink some wine that I was preparing for him. Now I had never looked troubled in his presence.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.

Literal Standard Version
And 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;

Majority Standard Bible
Now in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence,

New American Bible
In the month Nisan of the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when the wine was in my charge, I took some and offered it to the king. Because I had never before been sad in his presence,

NET Bible
Then in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought to me, I took the wine and gave it to the king. Previously I had not been depressed in the king's presence.

New Revised Standard Version
In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was served him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence before.

New Heart English Bible
It happened in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artachshasta the king, when wine was before me, that I took up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before in his presence.

Webster's Bible Translation
And it came to pass in the month 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. Now I had not before been sad in his presence.

World English Bible
In the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, I picked up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before in his presence.

Young's Literal Translation
And it cometh 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;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Nehemiah Sent to Jerusalem
1Now in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence, 2so the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, though you are not ill? This could only be sadness of the heart.” I was overwhelmed with fear…

Cross References
Ezra 7:1
Many years later, during the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,

Nehemiah 1:1
These are the words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa,

Nehemiah 1:11
O Lord, may Your ear be attentive to my prayer and to the prayers of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. Give Your servant success this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man." (At that time I was the cupbearer to the king.)

Daniel 9:25
Know and understand this: From the issuance of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of distress.


Treasury of Scripture

And it came to pass in the month 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. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.

Nisan

Esther 3:7
In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar.

the twentieth

Nehemiah 1:1
The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,

Ezra 7:1,7
Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, …

I took up

Nehemiah 1:11
O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.

Genesis 40:11,21
And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand…

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Artaxerxes Ar-Ta-Xerx'es Beforetime Lift Month Nisan Presence Present Sad Twentieth Wine
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Artaxerxes Ar-Ta-Xerx'es Beforetime Lift Month Nisan Presence Present Sad Twentieth Wine
Nehemiah 2
1. Artaxerxes, understanding the cause of Nehemiah's sadness,
6. sends him with letters and commission to Jerusalem
9. Nehemiah, to the grief of the enemies, comes to Jerusalem
12. He views secretly the ruins of the walls
17. He incites the Jews to build














II.

(1-8) Nehemiah's appeal to the king.

(1) Nisan.--The old Abib, the first month of the Jewish year, following the vernal equinox. As we are still in the twentieth year of the king, the beginning of his reign must be dated before Chisleu. The record adopts Persian dates, and the two months fell in one year.

Verse 1. - In the month Nisan. The fourth month after Chisleu, corresponding nearly to our April. How it came about that Nehemiah did not put the king's favour to the proof until more than three months had gone by we can only conjecture. Perhaps the court had been absent from Susa, passing the winter at Babylon, as it sometimes did, and he had not accompanied it. Perhaps, though present at the court, he had not been called on to discharge his office, his turn not having arrived. Possibly, though performing his duties from time to time, he had found no opportunity of unbosoming himself, the king not having noticed his grief. He. may even have done his best to conceal it, for Persian subjects were expected to be perfectly happy in the presence of their king. He had probably formed no plan, but waited in the confident hope that God's providence would so order events, that some occasion would arise whereof he might take advantage. In the twentieth year of Artaxerxes. Like Daniel, Zechariah, Haggai, and Ezra, Nehemiah dates events by the regnal year of the existing Persian king. His Artaxerxes is, by common consent, the same as Ezra's, and can scarcely be supposed to be any monarch but Longimanus, who reigned from B.C. 465 to B.C. 425. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. Other renderings have been proposed, but this is probably the true meaning. Hitherto I had always worn a cheerful countenance before him - now it was otherwise - my sorrow showed itself in spite of me.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Now in the month
בְּחֹ֣דֶשׁ (bə·ḥō·ḏeš)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 2320: The new moon, a month

of Nisan,
נִיסָ֗ן (nî·sān)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 5212: First month of the Jewish religious year

in the twentieth
עֶשְׂרִ֛ים (‘eś·rîm)
Number - common plural
Strong's 6242: Twenty, twentieth

year
שְׁנַ֥ת (šə·naṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 8141: A year

of King
הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ (ham·me·leḵ)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4428: A king

Artaxerxes,
לְאַרְתַּחְשַׁ֥סְתְּא (lə·’ar·taḥ·šast)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 783: Artaxerxes -- a son and successor of Xerxes, king of Persia

when wine
יַ֣יִן (ya·yin)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3196: Wine, intoxication

was set before him,
לְפָנָ֑יו (lə·p̄ā·nāw)
Preposition-l | Noun - common plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 6440: The face

I took
וָאֶשָּׂ֤א (wā·’eś·śā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - first person common singular
Strong's 5375: To lift, carry, take

the wine
הַיַּ֙יִן֙ (hay·ya·yin)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3196: Wine, intoxication

and gave
וָאֶתְּנָ֣ה (wā·’et·tə·nāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - first person common singular | third person feminine singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

it to the king.
לַמֶּ֔לֶךְ (lam·me·leḵ)
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4428: A king

I had never
וְלֹא־ (wə·lō-)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

been
וַיְהִ֣י ׀ (way·hî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

sad
רַ֖ע (ra‘)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 7451: Bad, evil

in his presence,
לְפָנָֽיו׃ (lə·p̄ā·nāw)
Preposition-l | Noun - common plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 6440: The face


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OT History: Nehemiah 2:1 It happened in the month Nisan (Neh Ne)
Nehemiah 1:11
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