John Gill Commentary Nehemiah 2:5

"And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers` sepulchres, that I may build it." — Nehemiah 2:5 (ASV)

And I said to the king; if it please the king, and if your
servant has found favour in your sight
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 you would send me to Judah, to 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 there, and set about such a work, for which he was so much concerned.