Nehemiah returns to the Persian court
Nehemiah governed Judah for twelve years, from Artaxerxes's twentieth year through his thirty-second, without taking the governor's food allowance. At the end of that term he returned to the king before later requesting permission to go back to Jerusalem (Nehemiah 5:14-19; 13:6).
14Furthermore, from the day King Artaxerxes appointed me to be their governor in the land of Judah, from his twentieth year until his thirty-second year (twelve years total), neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. 15The governors before me had heavily burdened the people, taking from them bread and wine plus forty shekels of silver. Their servants also oppressed the people, but I did not do this because of my fear of God. 16Instead, I devoted myself to the construction of the wall, and all my servants were gathered there for the work; we did not acquire any land.
