Nehemiah 2:5

“And I said unto the king; if it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, etc.] He submits what he had to say wholly to the pleasure of the king, and puts it upon his unmerited favour, and not on any desert of his own: that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it; the wall of it, and the houses in it; the favour was, that he might have leave to go thither, and set about such a work, for which he was so much concerned.”

“2:5 send me to Judah to rebuild the city: Artaxerxes’ openness to this proposal seems surprising in light of Jerusalem’s history of rebellions against Persia (Ezra 4:17-23). The king might have viewed Nehemiah’s plan as a way to solidify his own control over a troubled area of his empire.”

“If it please: Ezr 5:17; Est 1:19, Est 5:8, Est 7:3, Est 8:5 and if thy: Rut 2:13; Sa2 14:22; Pro 3:4 Nehemiah 2:6”