Nehemiah 2:6
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And the king said to me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall your journey be? and when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
American King James Version (AKJV)
And the king said to me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall your journey be? and when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
American Standard Version (ASV)
And the king said unto me (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
And the king said to me (the queen being seated by his side), How long will your journey take, and when will you come back? So the king was pleased to send me, and I gave him a fixed time.
Webster's Revision
And the king said to me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
World English Bible
The king said to me (the queen was also sitting by him), "For how long shall your journey be? And when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
English Revised Version (ERV)
And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.
Clarke's Nehemiah 2:6 Bible Commentary
The queen also sitting by him - Who probably forwarded his suit. This was not Esther, as Dean Prideaux supposes, nor perhaps the same Artaxerxes who had taken her to be queen; nor does שגל shegal signify queen, but rather harlot or concubine, she who was chief favourite. The Septuagint translate it παλλακη, harlot; and properly too. See the introduction.
I set him a time - How long this time was we are not told; it is by no means likely that it was long, probably no more than six months or a year; after which he either returned, or had his leave of absence lengthened; for in the same year we find he was made governor of the Jews, in which office he continued twelve years, viz., from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, Nehemiah 5:14. He then returned to Susa; and after staying a short time, had leave to return to rectify some abuses that Tobiah the Ammonite had introduced into the temple, Nehemiah 13:6, Nehemiah 13:7, and several others of which the people themselves were guilty. After having performed this service, it is likely he returned to the Persian king, and died in his office of cup-bearer; but of this latter circumstance we have no mention in the text.
Barnes's Nehemiah 2:6 Bible Commentary
The queen - Though the Persian kings practiced polygamy, they always had one chief wife, who alone was recognized as "queen." The chief wife of Longimanus was Damaspia.
I set him a time - Nehemiah appears to have stayed at Jerusalem twelve years from his first arrival Nehemiah 5:14; but he can scarcely have mentioned so long a term to the king. Probably his leave of absence was prolonged from time to time.
Wesley's Nehemiah 2:6 Bible Commentary
2:6 The queen - Which is here noted, as an unusual thing; for commonly the kings of Persia dined alone, and perhaps because the queen expressed some kindness to him, and promoted his request. How long - This question shewed the king's affection to him, and that he was not willing to want his attendance longer than was necessary. A time - He built the walls in fifty two days, chap. 6:15 , and probably not long after returned to the king, by whom he was sent a second time with a more ample commission.