6 I was not in Jerusalem while all of this was happening. I had gone back to the king of Babylon. I went back to Babylon in the 32nd year that Artaxerxes was king of Babylon. {\cf2\super [82]} Later, I asked the king for permission to go back to Jerusalem.
6 But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king:
6 But in all this time I was not at Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes [Persian] king of Babylon I went to the king. Then later I asked leave of him
6 But in all this time I was not at Jerusalem; for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went unto the king: and after certain days asked I leave of the king,
6 I wasn’t in Jerusalem while this was happening because I had gone to Babylon’s King Artaxerxes in the thirty-second year of the king. After some time, I asked the king’s permission
6 But during all this, I was not in Jerusalem, because in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, the king of Babylon, I went to the king, and at the end of some days, I petitioned the king.
And also, during the whole time that I was appointed to be governor in the land of Judah, neither I nor my brothers ate the food that was allowed for the governor. \{I never forced the people to pay those taxes to buy my food.\} I was governor from the 20th year until the 32nd year that Artaxerxes was king. {\cf2\super [16]} I was governor of Judah for twelve years.
In the month of Nisan in the 20th year {\cf2\super [4]} \{of King Artaxerxes\}, some wine was brought to the king. I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad when I was with the king, but now I was sad.
They celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread {\cf2\super [41]} with much joy for seven days. The Lord made them very happy because he had changed the attitude of the king of Assyria. {\cf2\super [42]} So the king of Assyria had helped them do the work on God’s temple.
The people saw that a long time had passed and Moses had not come down from the mountain. So the people gathered around Aaron. They said to him, “Look, Moses led us out of the land of Egypt. But we don’t know what has happened to him. So make us some gods to go before us and lead us.”