Lexicon :: Strong's H4428 - meleḵ

Please, Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to that of your servants who delight to revere your name. Give your servant success today, and grant him compassion in the presence of this man.[fn]

At the time, I was the king’s cupbearer.

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,

I went on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but farther down it became too narrow for my animal to go through.

I told them how the gracious hand of my God had been on me, and what the king had said to me.

They said, “Let’s start rebuilding,” and their hands were strengthened[fn] to do this good work.

Shallun[fn] son of Col-hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it and roofed it. Then he installed its doors, bolts, and bars. He also made repairs to the wall of the Pool of Shelah near the king’s garden, as far as the stairs that descend from the city of David.

Palal son of Uzai made repairs opposite the Angle and tower that juts out from the king’s upper palace,[fn] by the courtyard of the guard. Beside him Pedaiah son of Parosh

Still others were saying, “We have borrowed money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards.

Furthermore, from the day King Artaxerxes appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah ​— ​from the twentieth year until his thirty-second year, twelve years ​— ​I and my associates never ate from the food allotted to the governor.

In it was written:

It is reported among the nations ​— ​and Geshem[fn] agrees ​— ​that you and the Jews plan to rebel. This is the reason you are building the wall. According to these reports, you are to become their king

These are the people of the province who went up among the captive exiles deported by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Each of them returned to Jerusalem and Judah, to his own town.

You gave them kingdoms and peoples

and established boundaries for them.

They took possession

of the land of King Sihon[fn] of Heshbon

and of the land of King Og of Bashan.

So their descendants went in and possessed the land:

You subdued the Canaanites who inhabited the land before them

and handed their kings and the surrounding peoples over to them,

to do as they pleased with them.

So now, our God ​— ​the great, mighty,

and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant —

do not view lightly all the hardships that have afflicted us,

our kings and leaders,

our priests and prophets,

our ancestors and all your people,

from the days of the Assyrian kings until today.

Our kings, leaders, priests, and ancestors

did not obey your law

or listen to your commands

and warnings you gave them.

Its abundant harvest goes to the kings

you have set over us,

because of our sins.

They rule over our bodies

and our livestock as they please.

We are in great distress.

There was, in fact, a command of the king regarding them, and an ordinance regulating the singers’ daily tasks.

While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign. It was only later that I asked the king for a leave of absence

“Didn’t King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign women drew him into sin.