Nehemiah 2:4 - Exposition

Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? Artaxerxes understood that a complaint was contained in Nehemiah's speech, and that he must have a request to make. With gracious kindliness he facilitates its utterance. So I prayed to the God of heaven. Nehemiah was emphatically a man of prayer. In every danger, in every difficulty, still more at any crisis, prayer rose to his lips (see Nehemiah 4:4 , Nehemiah 4:9 ; Nehemiah 5:19 ; Nehemiah 6:9 , Nehemiah 6:14 ; Nehemiah 13:14 , etc.). Sometimes, as now, the prayer was offered silently and swiftly.